Saving Grace

Thirty Three

For the last hour or so, Grace has listened to Harley tell the story of what happened starting from when he met Tony to now. She suspects that he over exaggerated his role in everything, but she'll be able to find the real story somewhere in between his story and the one her father will tell her later.

Now, she's sitting in the barn with Harley, eating what's left of the candy that Tony told him to eat. Savior is standing close by.

"Can it do all the stuff Iron Man can?" Harley asks, looking at it.

Grace shakes her head as she lay down on the couch. "No. It isn't fully finished yet. And there's restrictions on it. Dad has to give it a command for it to really do anything — or I have to convince it to let me do something. Sai seems pretty sympathetic."

Harley's brows furrow. "What do you mean?"

So, she tells him the story of how Maya and Killian took Pepper and how she tried to go back and save her. "I was too late because I was arguing with Sai," she finishes, guilt welling up in her chest again.

Harley is silent for a moment, thinking, but then he asks, "Is Pepper your mom?"

Grace sighs and shakes her head sadly. "No."

"She sounds like your mom," Harley replies. It's in the way she talks about her, not to mention her relationship with Tony.

"She's not biologically my mom," Grace says, "but... she's the closest thing I've got to one."

"Just because she isn't biologically your mom doesn't mean she's not your mom," Harley says as if it's obvious, though it probably wasn't him to just a few days ago. But it's not as if he's already starting thinking of Tony as a dad or anything...

Grace thinks for a moment, pondering on something she'd never considered before; she has a mom, even though she's not actually around. But if she doesn't want to be Grace's mom, then why should she be? Pepper has been her mom since she was little — before even Iron Man. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she says, almost happy, the thought of her Mom — her new Mom — being in danger still looming over her.

"And Sai is the AI?" Harley continues.

Grace nods, looking at Savior. "Yeah."

"Cool."

"She's not finished yet, either. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but then my dad threatened a terrorist, so..."

Harley nods. "Yeah, and then people took pictures of you."

Grace sighs again. "Yeah."

After a pause, Harley asks, "Why do you have to be a secret, anyway?"

Grace shrugs. "So I'll be safe, I guess. So somebody like Killian doesn't take me or whatever to get to Dad."

"That sucks."

"Uh huh."

"So..." He pauses, thinking about how to word his question. "Why don't you just take Savior and go fly to your dad and like... help him?"

"Sai would never let me. She let me go try to save Pepper, but Dad programmed her; I'd never be able convince her to let me help him. Also, she can't track a moving target yet, so I'd never be able to find him — at least, not in time."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They lapse into silence again, still eating the candy. It's a comfortable silence, though — as if they've been friends for years.

Finally, Grace asks, "Do you have a pencil and paper?"

~~~~

Killian looks like molten lava, his skin black in some places, burning in others. He starts limping over to Tony, his voice gravelly. "No more false faces. You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start." He stops in front of Tony, spreading his arms, ready to attack. "I am the Mandarin!