Once Steve had his daughter in the trusted hands of Dr. Banner, he excused himself, promising to return to her in a few minutes so that he could run back upstairs and talk to Sam. Wanda had said that he was the one who had sent you out to meet with Wade, and even though he really didn't feel the slightest bit of jealousy or worry, he still needed to know why his friend thought it was so important for you to do.

"Sam, I just want to know why you're sending my wife out to meet with old boyfriends and not telling me. Stop looking like you're scared."

"You just said that you weren't jealous but you have that look on your face that says that you are!"

"I'm not!"

"Then why did you refer to him as her old boyfriend and not as Wade?"

"It wasn't on purpose, okay?" Steve sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair and getting fed up with the insinuation. "I just want to know why you thought that they needed to talk, seriously. So, tell me what's going on."

Sam paused, looking at Steve for just another moment with a skeptical eye, judging his friend's words before deciding if he were telling the truth. He almost began to judge himself for thinking that Steve would come at him with anything else, because the man was honest to a fault. He pushed the door to his room open and held out a hand, waving Steve inside and waiting for him to sit down before closing it again. "Alright, the reason that I sent her to Wade is because he has this way about him, where he can tell her-"

"To stop whatever she's doing," Steve interrupted with a nod, "yeah, I know. I've called him in before."

"Why am I the last to know things like this?!" Sam erupted, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Do you all realize how many times that I needed that little secret? Dammit, Steve, seriously! What the hell else don't I know?"

"I'm sorry, Sam, I had no idea that this was so important to you."

"Man, I thought we had trust around here."

"Alright," Steve chuckled, "let's drop the dramatics. That's my thing."

All Sam could do was shake his head, still disbelieving that Steve was in on this secret that he thought he had hit the jackpot with. His sense of losing his own power came swiftly, and he realized that somehow there was an entire other life that you had lived that he had no clue about. "But I'm her best friend..." he whispered to himself, dropping into the chair next to Steve.

"And I bet that's why you sent her to him, right?" Steve pushed. "Sam, talk to me."

"I wanted White Wilson to tell her that training the kids was a bad idea, and that she's buying into Tony's anxiety too much so that she'd back off."

"White Wilson?"

"Yeah, it's kind of our thing. I'm the hotter one, though, so don't you dare listen to him if he says that it's him."

"No, of course not, wouldn't dream of it."

"Oh...oh hell yes," Sam smiled widely with a satisfied clap of his hands as everything suddenly clicked in his mind, "I bet that you don't know why he has that power over her, now do ya? I bet that's a secret that I know and you don't."

Steve opened his mouth to retort, only to realize that Sam was completely right. He was going to say that he didn't care, and that it didn't really matter anyway, but dammit if his curiosity was louder than that other voice in his head. He had never questioned it, thinking that it must have been some silly thing from your relationship with Wade long before you were ever with him, and he didn't feel the need to know. But now, he had never wanted to know anything more. "Tell me."

"Oh, I don't think so, big guy. This one's mine."

"Sam, don't make me make it an order."

"Nooo, come on, man, let me have this. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Sam," Steve repeated, standing with arms crossed and a look of pure determination in his face. Sam knew full well that he wouldn't back down now, and he had sealed his own fate.

"Fine," he finally gave in, "but you might want to sit down for this. It ain't pretty."

~~~

After a long night of tests, questions, and examination, Bruce was no closer to knowing what had happened to Brooklyn, and why she couldn't remember what she had done to Tony's bar. The next day, he had called in the same neurologists who had helped him with Tony after his accident, and they offered nothing more than what he had already known, which was absolutely nothing. He decided that the best thing to do was to call the team together to discuss it, just to be sure that they were all aware that something was going on, even if that something had yet to be defined.

"So, let me get this right," Clint began, "since we have no clue what happened, we're just going to go about our business like it was nothing? I don't feel great about this plan, doc."

"I'm not sure what else to do, Clint," Bruce replied solemnly. "I've run every test I know, and every single one of them has come out clean. She's a perfectly healthy kid, physically and mentally. All we can do is wait to see if it happens again."

"We've got FRIDAY set for 24-hour special surveillance on her while she's here, and I've set up a monitor for her to wear while she's off the property," Tony offered. "We still should do our best to be sure that she isn't left alone. She's more than willing to go along with it, because she's just as worried as we are."

Steve sat next to you, his hand resting atop yours, but his fingers were wrapped around it with a tight grip that left your own tingling from lack of blood flow. He hated when the kids had so much as a bruise or a scratch, and this was so far beyond those that he couldn't help but to hold on to you to keep himself grounded and clear. "Has anyone noticed anything with Anthony or Grant?"

Tony's head perked up, looking to Steve from the other end of the conference room table with a start. "What's on your mind, Cap?"

"I was thinking about Ant's outburst with you, actually. Pretty out of character, right?"

"Definitely."

"I wonder if this is something that we need to watch for in more than just Brooke."

"Hmm, that might be a fair assessment," Bruce agreed, nodding along as they spoke. "Has Grant had any behavioral changes that anyone has seen?"

The team around him answered together, a resounding group of denials making you and Steve feel just a little bit better. Brooklyn could be destructive, but Grant could actually fully destroy everything around you if he had been manipulated; he could burn the building to the ground if he chose to, and that scared you more than anything that Brooklyn or Anthony could bring.

"He's working with Johnny again today," Steve added. "I can let him know what we're thinking so he can help to watch for anything unusual."

"Great. Alright, does anyone else have anything to add or any better ideas?" Bruce waited and looked from face to face, only to receive silence in his response. Everyone was looking to him for guidance in this, but he had no idea where to go from here until a very welcome moment of clarity struck; he felt like an idiot to have not considered it before.

"Let's call in Stephen."

This time, Bruce's offering caused an almost relieved group of agreements from the team, as if Strange would hold the true, final answer; even if he couldn't, the mere mention of his name was offering far more hope than anything that Bruce could come up with thus far. With a new plan and a wave of confidence in it, he adjourned the meeting and gathered his information from the desk, standing to dismiss everyone. He hated it when he felt this useless, especially now when it involved your children; children who hadn't chosen this life, yet were being thrust into dangers that they didn't deserve to face. He wanted nothing more than to protect them and help them with whatever this was, and he couldn't get to the lab fast enough just to contact Strange and get him involved.

"AVENGERS! AVENGER-TYPE...PEOPLE! A LITTLE HELP?!"

Steve practically pushed you over in his urgency to get to the door, hurrying out to the landing that overlooked the main door of the building. He saw Johnny standing there, sweating profusely and panicked, his eyes wide and body shaking under the stress. "Johnny, what's wrong?"

"Steve! Grant might have accidentally...or not...can't really say...started a fire in the woods behind the hangar and I can't stop it!"

~~~~

Five firetrucks, two quinjets, one Iron Man, and four hours later, the fire was extinguished, and in the same manner as his sister, Grant had no recollection of the event when all was said and done.

Natasha and Clint had left almost immediately as the action began, taking Allie and Nik away until the situation could be controlled. When Nat had called you a few hours later to get an update, it was mutually decided that they should take their family to your house in Brooklyn and stay there while things at the compound were uncertain. You would never consider that your own children would be a threat to theirs, but you couldn't chance it that something one of your trio could do might put Nat and Clint's children in danger's way. That same evening, they came home to pack their belongings, say a tearful goodbye, and to take an indefinite leave from the Avengers.

Stephen had been out of the country at the time of Bruce's call, but he dropped his responsibilities and hurried to meet with you once he had heard the details that now included each of his former students. Now that he was here, you had hoped to get some sense of comfort, sitting across from the Sorcerer Supreme, but it wasn't helping; it actually made your anxiety worse. If this were something simple, he wouldn't need to be here. If this were something simple, this feeling of dread wouldn't be gripping you.

Vision had joined your group, telling Stephen about his own conversation with Brooklyn and how she had experienced an amnesic affect after her own event. He listened intently, his hands joined with a finger pressed to his lips as he took it all in; he asked for every detail, from the exact words spoken down to the infection and tone. He then went on to ask Tony about Anthony's outburst, wanting the details of body language and position of where he stood. Finally, he called upon Johnny to describe the moments outside of the woods, and what Grant's hands looked like as the fire had spewed forth from them.

"I think I have all that I need. I will take everything I've learned here to the Sanctum and try to put it all together. It may take some time, but I will do all that I can, I promise you that." Strange stood and paused, looking to Steve and then to you, allowing himself to speak more informally when he was overwhelmed by the worry in your eyes. "I'll figure this out, (Y/N). For now, do your best to continue with your lives. Yes, be diligent and tell me anything that happens, but don't lock them away. I don't want them to be afraid, as I know that you don't either."

"We'll try," you nodded, "thank you. We know that you'll do your best, and we appreciate it."

"I care very deeply for those children, you both know that," he continued, "and I also know how powerful they truly are. I worry about what could come of someone or something manipulating that power beyond their control."