Pietro's hurt, if only just a little bit, and slightly dazed. Grace wastes no time in aiming one of her hand blasters at him, though he doesn't actually see her until he sits up.

His eyes widen for a second, then he squints a little. "And what are you?" he asks in that Sokovian accent Grace is almost glad to be able to hear up close.

"Wh-What am I?" she asks incredulously. "You're one to talk."

His brows furrow. "How old are you?"

She hesitates, her hand shaking slightly, though it was already. That and her voice probably gave her away. "N-None of your business."

He has to be twenty, at least. That and the fact that he's with Ultron are both extremely regrettable. Honestly? He's kinda... cute...

"Look, Iron Child," he says, "I do not want to hurt you, and I can run much faster than your little weapon here."

"Did he just threaten you-?" Sai starts, but Pietro continues, cutting her off unknowingly.

"Let's call it a truce for now, huh?"

"I'm not a child," Grace says, frowning.

"Yes, you are," Sai mutters.

"Okay," Pietro says, putting his hands up in a disarming gesture. "You are not. My offer still stands."

She looks at him. The sounds of the battle around them are still raging, reminding her of her father. And she really doesn't want blast Pietro's face, especially at this short distance. It'd be a shame to ruin a work of art like that. "Fine. Go. And don't hurt my friends."

"I will try." He gets up, ready to run off, but then Steve appears and hits him back with the shield. Grace winces.

"Stay down, kid!" Steve says to Pietro. He grabs Grace's hand, pulling her away from the perceived danger. Grace shoves away from him, running off to find her father. Steve shouts after her to go back to Nat, but she ignores him.

She looks up, searching for him or Ultron but finds neither.

"Thor!" Steve says over comms. "Status?"

"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care; I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty," Thor replies.

Grace looks around, searching for Wanda, but finds nothing. She tries to focus on finding her father, but stats and scans are in her limited vision, so she drops the helmet down to find him.

She searches for a moment, but then something stills her. There's a tingling in the back of her head.

"Grace!" Sai shouts as she quickly pulls her helmet back up.

Then, she hears a distinct accent shout, "No!" but it's faint.

She turns, expecting to see more of the storage warehouse or whatever it is that they're in, a person possibly running at her. But she doesn't.

She's back home, in the room that the first fight with Ultron destroyed. Except, now, it's repaired.

And it's deathly quiet.

She starts to head for the stairs, confused. "Dad?" she says. But she receives no response. She tries again, walking up the stairs. "Dad?!"

And then there's a crash behind her.

She turns, seeing her suitcase on the floor as if it sprung opened when it landed, things in it spilling out onto the floor. Before she has time to look up to see where it came from, her easel comes down next to it, breaking into pieces. Then, her artwork, all ripped and destroyed.

She looks up and sees Pepper, pure rage in her eyes, along with tears.

"M-Mom?" Grace says.

"Don't call me that!" she shouts storming down the stairs and forcing Grace to hurry down, too. "I am not, nor was I ever your mom! Your mom didn't want you, remember?!"

Grace is in utter shock. "I-"

"You know, you're lucky I gave you your things at all, so just take them and go already!"

"Mom-?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Her face is red, her tears falling faster, but her rage increasing by the second.

Grace begins to cry, too. Since when is Pepper not her mom? Why did she suddenly not want her anymore? "I-I don't understand-"

Surprisingly, she doesn't shout this time. But the rage is still there, along with deep hatred and bitterness. "What don't you understand about the fact that you got Tony killed?"

Grace's heart drops at the words. "Wh-Wha-?"

"You didn't save him! You couldn't do it! You had no idea what you were doing — and you never do!" Pepper screams. "And you know what the sad part is?! They never wanted you anyway! None of them — especially Tony! He got stuck with you because your deadbeat mom wouldn't take care of you! And he generously takes you in, provides for you, and this is how you repay him?! By being a failure?! You disgust me! I can't believe I ever cared about you! Get ou-!"

Her rant is interrupted as she begins to choke.

Grace's eyes widen as she grabs her shoulders, trying to figure out what's wrong with her. "Mom? Mom?!"

Before she can do anything more, Pepper's eyes roll back in her head and she falls over, dead.

"Mom!"

And then everything goes black.

~~~~

Grace wakes up, but doesn't open her eyes. She feels the soft hum of a quiet engine under her, and the feeling of some sort of blanket over her. But she doesn't open her eyes.

She hears a voice — one it takes her a moment to recognize, though she eventually identifies it as Thor. "What is this place?" he asks.

Then, another voice, one she recognizes instantly — her father's. "A safe house?"

She opens her eyes as Clint replies, "Let's hope."

Her head aches, but she slowly pushes herself up anyway, trying to sit. Everyone notices immediately and rushes to her aid, Tony reaching her first. He supports her back, looking her over for injuries. "Hey, sweetheart." He smiles a little.

She looks at him for a moment, then bursts into tears, her dream catching up to her. "You-You're okay?" she chokes out.

Tony immediately becomes concerned, hugging her to him. "Yeah, of course I am, sweetheart. Are you?"

She looks around through her tears, seeing everyone alive and, for the most part, okay. She nods. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay."

She pulls back and wipes her eyes, seeing Savior on her wrist as she does so. She realizes the blanket over her is Thor's cape, so she picks it up and hands it to him. Tony helps her up.

"You okay?" Steve asks, remembering watching her suit fly out of there, heading for the Quinjet in a hasty retreat. His throat had tightened, and worry had gripped him immediately; he knew something was wrong.

Thor puts his cape back on, looking at her with concern. Clint does, too, as he helps up Nat. She does as well, though it's hidden better. Bruce just looks worse for wear.

They all stagger out of the Quinjet, Grace attached to Tony. They've landed in a nice, wide field surrounded by trees, and there's a home-y barn and farm house in front of them. The safe house.

Clint enters first, opening the door. He seems familiar with this place.

"Honey?" he calls. "I'm home." A very beautiful and pregnant woman comes around the corner, holding a dish towel in her hand. "Hi. Company. Sorry — didn't call ahead," Clint says, walking up to her. They kiss.

Tony looks at Thor. "This is obviously an agent of some kind." Thor nods.

Clint turns, his arm around the woman. "Gentlemen, ladies — this is Laura."

Laura smiles. "I know all of your names." Her eyes land on Grace. "Mostly."

"Grace," she says quietly. Laura smiles brightly at her; she has to see what a wreck Grace is right now. Grace half-buries her face in her father's side.

They hear running footsteps, and Clint smiles a little. "Incoming." Two children comes around the corner, all smiles. Clint picks up the little girl and hugs the older boy. "Hi, sweetheart; hey, buddy — how are you guys doing?"

"These are... smaller agents," Tony says.

Clint playfully rolls his eyes. "You're not the only one with a kid, Stark."

"Clearly," Tony says. "I might need to get some tips from you on keeping your offspring a secret."

"Because you're really bad at it," Grace mumbles.

"No, I'm not. You're just good at persuading me."

"Clearly."

Clint, after talking to his kids, sets his daughter down. She looks up at him. "Did you bring Auntie Nat?"

Nat smiles, stepping forward. "Why don't you hug her and find out?" She picks up the girl.

Grace looks at her incredulously. "You knew? And you never told me?"

Nat sighs. "I'll make it up to you later."

"Yeah, you better," Grace weakly jokes.

Steve lightly clears his throat, addressing Laura. "Sorry for barging in on you."

"Yeah, we would've called ahead, but we were busy having no idea you existed," Tony says.

"Fury helped me set this up when I joined," Clint replies. "He kept it off the files, and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm sure you can understand."

"Oh, I do. I just feel a little like a subpar father right now."

"Well, you have different circumstances to work with," Clint says. "You're doing pretty good, coming from my perspective."

"And mine," Grace pipes up, putting jokes aside.

Nat begins talking to Laura, while Grace is distracted by Thor stepping on a toy. Steve sees it, too. Thor grimaces and pushes it under the couch with his foot.

The little girl walks up to him, then, and Thor looks like he's zoned out for a few seconds. And, then, the toaster dings, and he snaps out of it. Almost immediately, he starts walking out the door. Steve follows, but Tony doesn't, so Grace stays put. Seconds later, there's a loud whooshing noise, and she knows Thor is gone.

~~~~

Laura did notice what a wreck Grace is, and she quickly offered her a room to go lie down in. Grace wanted to stay with Tony, but her head was pounding, and she wanted to sleep. She's sure she slept for hours on the Quinjet, but it definitely wasn't a restful sleep.

She quietly asked Laura for some ibuprofen and a small snack to eat before taking it, and Laura gave her full pick of the fridge, cabinets, and pantry and got her the medication and a glass of water. She ate a granola bar and took the pills, then lay down, falling asleep quickly.

When she wakes up, she feels much better, though the dream is still on her mind. The concern and the reactions of the team when she woke up weakened the statement that they didn't want her — assuming "they" meant them, which it couldn't mean anyone else.

Tony was certainly concerned about her, and they way he hugged her made her feel like a little kid again, hugging him on tarmac somehow both before and after that fateful trip to Afghanistan.

But she still wants to see her mom — Pepper — to make sure everything's okay. She can't, though, not just yet.

She exits her room, looking for someone else she's comfortable with. Preferably her father.

Instead, she finds Nat in the hall. She smiles at her. "Hey, Grace. How ya feelin'?"

"Better," Grace replies. She frowns. "What happened while I was out? Everyone looks shaken and... beaten up."

Nat sighs, then explains to her that she, Grace, Steve, and Thor were all influenced by Wanda — their minds messed with. No one was sure why it took Grace so long to wake up, which was worrying, though they had some theories about age or maybe the nature of Grace's vision. Grace didn't want to tell her the vision to confirm or refute that theory just yet, and, luckily, Nat didn't ask.

Then, Wanda got to Bruce and made him Hulk out. He practically destroyed an entire city before Tony stopped him, then they all had to go underground because everyone hated them for the death and destruction they've caused.

So, here they are. Imposing in Clint's home for the time being.

Oh, and Tony's outside chopping firewood with Steve.

Grace decides to go out to see her father and Steve, and ends up walking in on some sort of argument.

"I don't trust a guy without a dark side," Tony's saying. "Call me old fashioned."

"Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet," Steve replies, causing Grace to roll her eyes.

"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?" Tony says.

"Well, I guess you'd know. Whether you tell us is a bit of a question."

"Banner and I were doing research-"

"That would affect the team."

"That would end the team. Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'why' we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"

Steve picks up a piece of wood and rips it in half with his bare hands with ease, causing Grace to roll her eyes yet again. "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts," he says, "innocent people die. Every time."

"Are you two done yet?" Grace asks, coming down the porch steps with her arms crossed.

Tony turns to her. "Oh, we're just having a friendly discussion. You feelin' better?"

"Yes, and if that's friendly, I'd hate to see what unfriendly looks like."

Tony goes to reply, but he's interrupted by another voice — Laura. "I'm sorry. Mr. Stark, uh, Clint said you wouldn't mind, but our tractor, it doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might-"

"Yeah, I'll give her a kick," Tony says. He looks at Steve. "Don't take from my pile."

Grace sighs while Steve chuckles at little. He looks at her, deciding to take a break from chopping wood. "So, anyone tell you what happened?"

"Nat did," Grace replies. "Wanda screwed with everyone's head but Clint's and Dad's, then Hulk went crazy and ruined a whole city, then we all took a fun little road trip to here, and I was unconscious for all of it. Good times."

Steve chuckles again, then he shakes his head, turning serious. "Look, Grace... whatever you saw, whatever she showed you... you can't let it get to you."

Grace looks at him for a moment. "We're friends, right?"

He seems confused, but he says, "Yeah."

She smiles a little and nods. "That's all I needed to know."