Forty Six

Before Peter can reply to her, Tony calls everyone to the tarmac, near the Quinjet they took here. When Grace gets there, Vision is floating in the air, and everyone else lands on the ground in front of him, facing Steve and his team. Grace stands next to Peter, putting her helmet up again.

Steve's team starts walking forward then, and Tony walks forward too, everyone else following behind him.

"This is gonna end well," Nat deadpans.

Peter sounds worried. "They're not stopping."

"Neither are we," Tony replies.

And then everyone runs.

They all meet in the middle, punches, blasts, and kicks being exchanged almost mercilessly. But no one runs at Grace.

She follows Peter, who's rushing at Wanda by jumping over the trucks she has floating in the air. She's farther back from the group.

Grace sees her heading for Nat and Clint, who are fighting each other. She thinks for a second then puts her helmet down and presses her earpiece. "I got Wanda. You go find someone else."

"Got it," Peter replies.

Grace watches as Wanda telekinetically flings Nat back against a trailer. "You were pulling your punches," she says to Clint. He nods and runs off.

She starts to go too, but Grace reaches her. "Wanda!"

She stops, putting her hands up in a blocking position, but drops them when she sees Grace just standing there. "You shouldn't be here," she says.

"Well, I am," Grace replies, stepping forward. "And I need you to help me stop this."

"How?" Wanda asks. "What are we supposed to do? Your father signed those Accords. With everything that happened... it's too late."

"Just talk to Steve," Grace pleads. "Convince him to talk my dad. This-This fighting it... we were a family. You guys were a family. And now look at you."

Wanda looks at her sadly, reaching out and touching Grace's shoulder. "I know, iertare. I know. And I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do now. Steve won't risk Bucky. And... the Accords..." she trails off.

Grace looks at her for a moment, her hope beginning to crumble. But she reminds herself that it's not over yet and turns away, talking to Peter in her earpiece as Wanda's hand falls. "Wanda's a no-go too. Who's next?"

"I see the arrow guy alone." Peter tells her where.

Grace runs over and spots him as he shoots an explosive arrow at Tony. He sees her and starts to move, but she reaches him first. "Clint, please. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" he asks, stopping.

"About ending this fight."

He laughs mirthlessly. "Yeah, as if that's gonna happen."

"Just talk to Steve-"

"And tell him what?" Clint asks. "That Tony'll get all of us — including Barnes — off the hook? That he'll cancel the Accords, make it all the way it was before? Even if he wanted to do that, Grace, he can't. I'm sorry, but there's no ending this fight now. We're in too deep."

And then Peter's voice is in her ear. "Hey, I'm heading for Cap. I think I can web him up. You wanna try him?"

Grace sighs, thinking.

If no one else will talk to him, she'll just have to talk to him herself. She looks at Clint once more, then turns. "I'm on my way."

~~~~

Meanwhile, Peter is fighting with Captain America. And it isn't going as well as he hoped.

For starters, Cap slices through his web mid-swing with his shield. Luckily, Peter is able to land on his feet. "That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all."

"Look kid," Steve says, "there's a lot going on here that you don't understand."

"Mr. Stark said you'd say that," Peter replies. He fires a web at him, which ends up connecting to his shield.

Then, he grabs Cap's ankle with another web and pulls him forward, sending him skidding across the pavement.

Finally, Peter fires two webs at the truck behind Cap and swings forward, kicking Cap and sending him flying into the truck and onto the ground.

"He also said to go for your legs," Peter adds.

Cap gets up and runs for his shield, which fell in front of him, but Peter webs both his hands and pulls him back. Cap turns, then pulls the webs down and flips, sending Peter flying in the other direction.

He disconnects the webs and lands on his feet, firing another web at the shield, which Cap grabs. He pulls him forward and hits Peter in the head with the shield, knocking him to the ground.

Peter has no idea where Grace is, but he wishes she'd get here already.

He webs a gangway leading to nowhere and lands on top of it, needing a minute to breathe. Cap looks up at him. "Stark tell you anything else?"

"That you're wrong. You think you're right. That makes you dangerous," Peter replies. Then, he remembers something else. "Grace said you were stubborn, but... she cares about you. Pretty sure she called you family."

Steve sighs. "I don't think that applies anymore."

"Then, I'm sorry, sir," Peter says. He swings down around the back of the gangway, firing a web at Cap. But he misses, and Cap kicks him under the gangway, then hits one of the support beams holding it up with his shield, causing the whole thing to fall. Peter catches it quickly.

"You got heart, kid," Cap says. "Where you from?"

"Queens."

Steve smiles a little. "Brooklyn."

He starts to run away, but then there's another shout. "Steve!" Grace lands in Savior, hurriedly getting under the gangway and helping Peter throw it to the ground. She turns back to Steve, who's still standing there. She stops; she doesn't know what to say to him.

"Are you good here?" Peter asks quietly. He feels like he hasn't really been keeping a close eye on her like Mr. Stark said, since they've been so separated. But no one is fighting her, and she seems to be doing okay on her own. Plus, there's the plan...

Grace waves him off. "I'm fine."

Peter hesitantly swings away, leaving Grace alone with Steve, who sighs. "I'm surprised your dad let you come here."

"He knew none of you would actually fight me, and that gives him some advantage," she replies, shrugging. "And I needed to talk to you, so..."

"About what?"

"About talking to my dad."

Steve shakes his head, smiling ruefully. "He put you up this, didn't he?"

"No," Grace replies earnestly. "If anybody put anyone up to anything, it's me." Cap raises a brow at this, and she looks off to the side with a slight grimace. "I've had Peter helping me..."

Cap figures that the spider kid is Peter. "He told me you called me family."

"You are," she replies, looking back at him. "Which why I need you to talk to my dad. Tell him about the psychologist. Tell him about the other super soldiers. Have a conversation. Put the weapons down."

"He won't listen."

"No one will!" Grace suddenly shouts, her frustration and anger bubbling over. "No one did! This is your last chance to fix everything — you could at least try!"

Steve only looks apologetic. "I'm sorry, Grace."

"If one more person says that to me today, I'm gonna lose it."

Steve throws up his hands. "What else am I supposed to say, Grace? It's too late now. I'm not gonna let them arrest Bucky for something he didn't do."

"Then prove he didn't do it!"

"I tried."

"And now you're just gonna give up," Grace replies. She shakes her head, scoffing. "Well, I'm not." She runs off as Steve calls after her, but she ignores him, telling Peter, "I'm moving to our team now. Steve won't budge."

"What about the weird guy?"

"I don't know him. He has no reason to listen to me."

"Okay. I'll let you know when I see someone you can talk to."

"Okay." She puts her helmet up.

But before Peter can give her an update, the weird guy becomes a giant.

"Okay, tiny dude is big now," Rhodey says over comms. "He's big now."

Grace flies over, seeing that the giant guy has Rhodey by the leg. She lands next to Peter. "New plan — figure this out first."

"But this is the perfect distraction," he replies.

"Give me back my Rhodey," Tony says.

The giant guy lets go of Rhodey, flinging him away, right towards Grace and Peter. Peter runs forward and shoots a web at Rhodey. "I got him!" But Rhodey's momentum carries them both off.

The giant guy then kicks a bus, and Vision lands in front of it, breaking it in half. Meanwhile, the giant guy is breaking the wing off of an airplane and using it to hit all the airborne people around him.

Grace lowers her helmet again. "Peter, where are you?" she asks worriedly. She can't see him anywhere.

"I'm good," he replies. "Look, I don't see Black Widow anywhere. Go find her. We can handle the big guy."

Grace nods. If anyone will listen to her, it's Nat. She runs over to where she last saw her, where Wanda knocked her out.

Luckily, she's still there, and she's just waking up. Grace crouches down next to her. "Nat."

She looks up, dazed. "Grace?"

"Listen, everything is going to crap," Grace says. "The weird guy is a giant, and it's all a mess, and I just..." She takes a deep breath. "Nat, you're my last hope."

Tony already didn't listen to her, making an appeal to Rhodey or Vision right now is out of the question as they're in thick of it, and T'Challa wouldn't listen to her even if they did actually know each other because he's bent on revenge.

"Last hope for what?" Nat asks, sitting up.

"Stopping the fight before it gets worse."

Nat looks at her in disbelief and confusion. "How do you want me to do that?"

Grace sighs. "Talk to my dad. Get him to listen to you. If he just calls it all off and tells Steve he wants to talk, come to a compromise-"

Nat shakes her head. "Grace, it's far too late for that. We're in this now."

"But..." Grace starts, tears welling up in her eyes, her hope dwindling into nothing. "But, Nat..."

"I'm sorry," Nat says, laying a comforting hand on her arm, going to pull her into a hug.

But Grace just becomes angry, pulling back. "If you were sorry, you would try. If any of you were sorry, none of us would be here in the first place." Nat looks at her sadly, tears starting to well up in her own eyes. She shakes her head; she doesn't know what to say. "Nat, just do something," Grace pleads.

"I don't know what to do," Nat replies, helpless.

Grace stands. "Yeah? Well, neither do I now."

She runs off, looking for Peter.

And Nat runs too.

~~~~

Nat stands in front of the Quinjet, the very one she knows Steve and Bucky are heading for right now. She can see them at this distance, tiny dots getting bigger on the skyline. Closer.

A tower starts to fall in front of the opening to the garage, but red light holds it up. Wanda.

Steve and Bucky get under, and then it collapses, and they think they're home free.

But then Nat appears.

"You're not gonna stop," she says. It's more of a statement than a question.

Steve answers, "You know I can't."

Nat sighs, raising her wrist, which has a taser gun on it. "I'm gonna regret this." She fires behind Steve and Bucky at T'Challa, who'd climbed over the wreckage to get to Bucky. "Go."

Steve and Bucky gratefully run past her, then T'Challa comes forward. She fires again. He looks at her in pain and disbelief, though she can't see his expression through his mask. "What are you doing?"

"Something," she replies, swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Who's side are you on?"

Nat smiles a little, almost sadly, thinking of her — the day she first met her, all wide eyes and chubby cheeks, baby teeth still rooted in her amazed, open mouth. Or the day they watched Tony almost get killed on TV, the fear, but being able to comfort her, hold her. The day she told her she was a secret agent, that pure amazement again, warming Nat's heart. And all the days after of watching her grow up, teaching her self defense while, without knowing it, she was teaching Nat something else. Something she hadn't known for a long time. Something she thought she'd never get to know.

And while she thinks of all this, Nat starts crying again. "She didn't talk to you, did she?"

T'Challa stops, seeing her face. He hasn't known Nat long, but just by her reputation, it's startling to see her cry. "Who?"

She doesn't know how much he knows, how much Tony told him or wants to tell him. So, she says, "Savior."

~~~~

Grace runs back to the main fight, her helmet coming back up, and it doesn't take her long to find Peter. He's running around the giant guy, dodging his swinging hands.

"Hey, guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?!" he asks over the comms.

"Tony, how old is this guy?" Rhodey asks.

"I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him," Tony replies. "He's on the young side."

As Grace flies over to Tony, she sees Peter swinging on the giant guy, going around him. "You know that part... where they're on the snow planet... with the walking thingies?!"

He begins to wrap a web around the giant guy's knees.

Tony thinks for a second. "Maybe the kid's on to something."

"High now, Tony. Go high," Rhodey says.

"I don't know this movie; I don't know what to do!" Grace shouts, following her father.

"Just follow my lead, okay?" he says. "And be careful."

He, Grace, and Rhodey fly up, then punch the giant guy in the face, using as much power from their suits as possible. He falls, and Peter shouts. "Yes! That was awesome!"

And then, during his flailing, the giant guy hits Peter and sends him flying into some crates. Grace rushes over to him.

"Is he okay?" Tony asks, concerned.

Grace lands in a crouch next to him, where he's on the ground, facing away from her. As she sits on her knees, she worriedly asks, "Peter?"

He rolls over abruptly. "Wha-? Oh. Oh, hey, Grace."

"He's okay," she says into the comms.

"Alright, you're both done," Tony says. "Just stay there."

Grace doesn't even argue. "Okay."

Peter sits up, albeit with some difficulty. "So how did it go with Black Widow?" He quickly realizes that that was the wrong question to ask.

She begins to cry again, though it all just comes pouring out this time. The distraction of fighting the giant guy kept it at bay, but the destruction around her, along with Peter's question, is a reminder that she failed.

Her helmet retracts into the suit, and Peter sees her look of utter despair and defeat, tears running down her cheeks. His eyes widen, and he pulls off his own mask. "No, no, no, no, no, don't cry," he says hurriedly. "Don't cry. It's okay." Awkwardly, he puts a comforting arm around her.

She rests her head on his shoulder, not thinking or caring about anything else in that moment but what's happened. "It didn't work. Nobody listened. Nobody even tried. They just told me they were sorry and kept fighting."

"Well... I'm sorry too," Peter says. "I-I should've-"

She raises her head, looking at him. "No, Peter. This isn't your fault." She sighs. "I was an idiot for thinking this would work in the first place."

"No, you weren't," Peter assures her. "You just wanted to get your family back together, and you did everything you could. It's okay."

Above them, the Quinjet takes off, Steve and Bucky probably inside. Tony and Rhodey fly off to stop it. Grace and Peter watch them go.

Peter looks back at her. "We don't have to go with them. We can just sit here. There's nothing more we can do, anyway."

Grace stands wordlessly, and Peter starts to stand with her, thinking she's going to go off and chase the jet anyway, but, instead, she steps out of Savior. She presses a button on it, causing it to turn into a bracelet around her wrist, then she sits back down next to Peter. "Thank you," she says, looking over at him, "for trying."

He smiles. "Oh, you don't have to thank me. Just doing my spider duties." She laughs, and his smile turns proud.

Then, her face falls as she hears Rhodey over comms — his voice coming out of her bracelet. "Vision, I got a bandit on my six... Vision! You copy? Target his thrusters, turn him into a glider."

Peter puts an arm around her again, just as awkwardly. "Hey. Everything's gonna be okay."

And then it isn't.

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