Saving Grace

Thirty

Grace had been crying. Not only was almost everything that she owned in the mansion gone — her books, her art, her pictures and sentimental gifts from her family — but her father was gone, too. He was alive, but he was off to the save the world again. Her heart ached with worry.

Pepper drove them to a nearby hotel to stay at until Tony got back. Maya and Pepper sat on the bed talking, and Grace was in a nearby chair reading. When she'd put on Savior, her small bag was still on her back, and everything in it came with her. She was in the middle of Catching Fire, and she needed something to distract herself from all the worried thoughts going through her head.

"Fun fact," Maya was saying. "Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel. He stargazed... Do you know what he said when the first V-2 hit London?" Pepper looked at her expectantly, and, from her chair, so did Grace. She went on. "'The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet.'

"See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. And... you look up; you're a long way from shore."

Pepper shook her head a little. "You can't be too hard on yourself, Maya. I mean, you gave your research to a think tank."

"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts."

"That's exactly what we used to do," Pepper replied. "So, don't judge yourself."

Maya smiled softly. "Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Pepper looked at Grace, silently imploring her to go hide. It was probably just the food they'd ordered, but Pepper knew Tony wouldn't want anybody seeing her, especially after what happened at the hospital.

Her book in hand, Grace went into the next room — the bathroom. It was big, and there was a little window over the toilet.

"Hi, good evening," Grace heard Pepper say. "Come on in."

She heard a slightly muffled reply. "Good evening."

But then Pepper screamed. "Maya, run!"

There was a thud, more screaming. Grace went for the door, going to open it — to go help Pepper and Maya. She still had Savior on her wrist after all. Her heart beat in her ears, but then she heard another voice and stopped.

"Hi, Pepper," an eerily calm, male voice said. There was a pause. "So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?"

Then, Maya. "I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the master were gonna blow the place up." She was probably working for him — that man.

Which means he's Killian.

"Oh, I see. So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us?"

"I've told you, Killian, we can use him."

Another pause. Then, Killian chided, "Pepper, Pepper, Pepper." Grace was worried about her; she hadn't spoken in a long time.

Maya continued. "Look, if we want to launch a product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive. Now, he has one."

"Speaking of, where's the girl?" Killian asked.

Grace's heart stopped. He meant her. She fumbled for the button on the bracelet.

"What girl?" Maya replied, causing Grace to stop yet again. Why would she play dumb if she was working for Killian?

He sounded annoyed. "The kid. Stark's daughter. What was her name — Grace?"

"We don't need her-"

"Go. Get. Her."