Now, in the lab with all the broken Iron Legion bots, everyone but Thor stands around, looking grave — even Grace. She left Savior open in the corner after helping them clean up the party area. Tony never even thought to send her upstairs — or he just didn't think he needed to. She was in the fight, after all.

"All our work is gone," Bruce says, looking at it all. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve mutters, almost bitterly.

"He's been in everything," Nat says. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

Tony looks at Grace, trying to think about how much he could possibly know about her. He's been careful thus far in regards to her info. The most recent picture of her out there is from when she was eleven. She looks so different now.

So... grown up.

Rhodey steps forward, holding his injured arm and bringing Tony back to the conversation. "If he's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

"Nuclear codes," Maria adds while picking broken glass out of the bottoms of her feet.

Rhodey sighs, then looks at Tony. "Look, we need to make some calls — assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Nat asks, ignoring him. "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve says.

Clint adds, "He also said he killed somebody."

Maria's brows furrow. "But there wasn't anyone else in the building."

Tony sighs. "Yes, there was." Grace already knows who it is before he brings up the damaged image of Jarvis.

Everyone goes quiet. A few tears slip out of Grace's eyes. Bruce walks towards the image in disbelief. "This is insane."

Steve shrugs. "Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

"No," Grace says, wiping her eyes when everyone looks at her. But she knows Steve is wrong based on that destroyed image, on everything her father's taught her about technology — about Jarvis. "Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis," she says. "This isn't strategy, this is... rage." She whispers the last part, feeling like she's lost a family member.

And then Thor strides in, heading straight for Tony. He grabs him by the throat and lifts him, walking back towards the wall.

"Stop it!" Grace immediately shouts — practically shrieks — as she moves towards them. Thor listens, looking over at her and the distressed look on her face.

"Use your words, buddy," Tony chokes out.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor replies, but he lets him go anyway.

"The Legionnaire," Steve says, reminding him of his task to track the suit that got away with Loki's scepter.

Thor sighs. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it — again."

"I tried to stop it," Grace mutters, chewing her lip. Despite all she did, she didn't get the scepter, and she didn't stop Ultron. It was a failure in her eyes.

"In a way, we all did," Rhodey says. "And we all failed. Don't put this all on you."

"Alright, then, I'll put it on Steve," Grace replies jokingly, trying to ease the tension. "Don't just jump onto things all willy nilly. I almost had a shot at it."

She only earns a half-hearted chuckle and a, "Sorry, Grace."

"The genie's out of that bottle, anyway," Nat sighs. "Clear and present is Ultron."

Dr. Cho suddenly joins the conversation. "I don't understand. You built this program... Why is it trying to kill us?"

And, shockingly, Tony starts laughing.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asks, looking like he's going to try to choke him again. Even Grace gives him an odd look.

"No," Tony says, trying to hold in his laughter. "It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so- It is. It's so terrible."

Thor walks towards him, causing Grace to take a step forward. "This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor says.

Tony walks towards him, too. "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." But he doesn't sound like it. He sounds angry. "It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-" Bruce warns.

"Really?!" Tony turns on him. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

"Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

Bruce just shrugs. Steve butts in, "Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony says.

Rhodey shakes his head. "No, it's never come up."

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

Tony ignores him. "Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that up there? That's... That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve says, as if it's obvious.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too." After a pause, Steve continues. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

~~~~

Grace is with Tony when Steve calls him and the rest of the Avengers down to where he and Maria have been tracking Ultron.

"Steve's got something," Tony says, standing from the table where he and Grace have been eating chocolate chip pancakes. "I'll be right back."

But Grace stands to follow him. "I'm coming, too."

"No, you're-"

"I fought him, too," Grace reminds him. "And that's my family that he wants extinct. I'm in this just as much as you and the others are. What's the harm in me going down there and looking at the info Steve's got?"

Tony reluctantly lets her come too, so here they are, looking at a picture of a dead body with the word, 'Peace,' written in blood on the wall next to him.

Well, Grace only sees it for a second; Tony quickly covers her eyes, even as she swats him away. "What's this?"

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker," Steve replies, putting the picture away.

Tony uncovers Grace's eyes. "And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," he says.

Nat shakes her head. "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve replies.

"Yeah, I bet he..." Nat stops, going over to the computer. After looking at something for a few moments, she says, "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

Tony thinks for a moment. "Not everything."

They all drag out their physical files, looking for the ones on Strucker. Even Grace helps, though Tony tells her not to read anything important.

Finally, they get the files they need and start going through them.

"Known associates," Steve says, looking at one file. Grace suspects that he's in his element right now. "Well, Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce says.

Tony and Grace are looking over his shoulder. "Wait," Tony says upon seeing a photo of a man named Ulysses Klaue. "I know that guy. From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gives him a look, so he says, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer; it was all very, 'Ahab.'"

Thor walks around, also looking at the man's picture over Bruce's shoulder — and the top of Grace's head. He points to a scar on the back of the man's neck. "And this?"

Tony squints. "Uh... it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it-"

"No, those are tattoos," Thor says, indicating the ink that was on the rest of the man's body. "This is a brand."

Bruce goes to the computer and quickly figures out what it is. "Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning, 'thief,' in a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve asks.

Bruce squints at the computer, pronouncing it unsurely. "Wakanada...? Wa... Wa...Wakanda."

But Tony recognizes it. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods-"

And so does Steve. "I thought your father said he got the last of it?"

"What?" Grace asks, looking between them both and voicing everyone else's question. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

Steve nods to his shield. Tony says, "The strongest metal on earth."

Steve looks at Tony. "Where is this guy now?"

~~~~

It doesn't take long to figure out where the man is. And it also doesn't take long for the Avengers to go suit up for a fight.

Grace quickly gets into Savior, meeting her father as he's headed to the rest of the team. She told Sai she was going to find him for instructions.

"What are you doing?" Tony asks.

"Coming with you," she replies.

Tony stops, sighing. "Look, you held your own in that fight, okay? I won't lie to you. But just because you did good in one fight doesn't mean you can come to all the other ones. You could get seriously hurt."

"You made this armor specifically so that wouldn't happen," Grace retorts.

Tony starts walking again, causing her to follow. "It's supposed to get you away from danger," he says.

"Then why put weapons on it?"

"In case you really need them, which I really wish you wouldn't."

Grace thinks for a moment, then says, "If everyone else goes off to fight this measly little black market metal dealer, who am I supposed to stay with?"

Tony stops again, thinking and chewing his lip. Is he ready for her to stay at home by herself? Pepper and Happy are out on business in Europe with a lot of people whom Tony doesn't trust to actually see Grace, and Grace flying all the way there just in Savior seems almost ridiculous anyway — and maybe even dangerous, if something were to go wrong. Would it ultimately be safer to keep her with him while all this Ultron stuff is going on?

Finally, he sighs. "Fine. But you're staying on the Quinjet."

"Dad-"

"Grace-"

"I can be a distraction! I can help!"

"Grace-"

"You'll be able to protect me better if you keep me close," she points out, ignoring Sai's many protests.

Tony sighs, wishing that she hadn't inherited his hard-headedness. He doesn't have time to argue with her right now. "At the first sign of real trouble, you're back on the Quinjet. Understand?"

Grace smiles. "Yeah, of course."

"I'll keep her safe," Sai assures him, exasperated.

Tony just hopes he won't regret this decision.

~~~~

The team had some questions when they saw her, and there was more talk of her staying on the Quinjet while the fight was going on, but Grace argued in her favor.

"I almost destroyed Ultron the last time, remember? And I would have had he not escaped through the internet. Also, I have an awesome suit, awesome blasters and stuff, and an AI that will basically drag me out of there if I get hurt or whatever, among other things. Plus, you guys will be there, and the enemy we know we're fighting isn't very imposing against all of us."

"But what if Ultron shows?" Nat asks, raising a brow, testing her.

"Then, you'll need all the help you can get, right? I can at least be a good distraction while you guys come in and kick butt."

And so the discussion ended.

Grace, after being fully briefed on the enhanced Maximoffs, spent the flight nervous, yet excited. She's been training to fight hand-to-hand — mostly for self defense, but still — and she is getting pretty good at using the suit, especially with the practice lessons Tony gave her just in case she'd need them. Plus, Sai would get her out of there if it went really bad. Nothing bad could happen, honestly. She doesn't know what everyone is so worried about.

When the Quinjet lands, Tony, Thor, and Steve go first, while everyone else sneaks in, lying in wait for the fight to begin. Grace sticks with Nat, listening in.

Ultron is shouting before he sees Tony, Steve, and Thor. "It's a thing with me. Stark is — he's a sickness!"

"Ah, Junior," Tony says, causing him to turn. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to," Ultron replies. "It's not as if I'm your only child, anyway, is it? I suppose there's has to be one bad egg to even out the good one. The good ones are usually more breakable, though..."

"We don't have to break anything," Thor says, luckily before Tony can reply.

Ultron scoffs. "Clearly you've never made an omelet."

Tony sighs. "He beat me by one second." He has to feign calm by ignoring the comments about Grace completely; if Ultron knows it bothers him, he'll use it against him — and that's even worse since she's here. He's hyperaware of her presence, thinking about her at all times.

This was a bad idea.

Meanwhile, Grace is looking around the corner, catching a glimpse of Tony, Steve, and Thor standing at one end of a walkway. Ultron and the Maximoffs are on the other side.

The boy — Pietro — chuckles dryly. "Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's, what, comfortable? Like old times?" He looks down, over the railing, at a store of missiles.

"This was never my life," Tony says, wishing he were a stay-at-home dad right now, watching TV or playing a board game with his daughter instead of being here, scared for her life and regretting nearly ever decision he's ever made.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve butts in, talking to the Maximoff twins.

"Oh, we will," the girl — Wanda — replies bitterly.

"I know you've suffered-"

Ultron groans. "Captain America. The world's most perfect man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor implores.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."

"Yeah, sure. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asks.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." And then, somehow, he pulls Tony forward, then slams him into the wall.

Tony gets up and charges forward, meeting Ultron in the middle as they begin fighting, throwing things and shooting at each other.

Meanwhile, bots begin attacking the rest of the team. Grace sees one heading for Steve. She starts forward, but Nat stops her. "Just stay back. If they come at you, fight them. Don't go looking for a fight."

"That's kinda what I did last time, and it seemed to work pretty well," Grace replies, though she listens to Nat and stays put.

Nat sighs, standing slightly in front of her. "I don't even know why Tony let you come in the first place."

"I'm very persuasive," Grace says, scooting closer to Nat to see around the corner.

Nat snorts. "I'll say."

Grace looks back at the fight, scanning the room for the rest of the Avengers, then their enemies. She notices that Wanda and Pietro have disappeared.

Crap.

Then, Klaue's men bust out with guns and make everything that much harder; they come at Nat and Grace. Nat does what she does best as Grace fires with her blasters and uses hand-to-hand where she can.

"Good!" Nat says at one point, proud. "Just like I taught you."

Grace sees arrows flying and knows Clint is helping out. Tony and Ultron are still fighting up above, and she wants to do something. She has to. "You got it here?" She asks Nat, giving her no room to reply. "Great. Shout if you need me."

"This is not a good idea," Sai says, but she lets her go anyway; stopping her right in the middle of this would only make things worse, and trying to fly her out of here would practically be a death sentence what with the chaos going on.

So, Grace runs off, trying to get to Tony. If she can distract Ultron, Tony can get a good hit on him. But she doesn't want her presence known just yet — either out of fear or strategy. Ultron may know of her, but he doesn't seem to know she's here.

She crouches behind some cases, trying to think of a plan. In the meantime, she risks a blast at Ultron, but in fear of hitting Tony, misses the mark completely.

Still, it gives Tony an opening to get a good hit in as Ultron searches for the source. Grace smiles, mentally high-fiving herself.

Then, suddenly, someone comes crashing down next to her.

Pietro.