Command • T'Challa

Introduction: Grace's POV

"So, you're the little guinea pig,"  Tony Stark said, smiling smugly at me. He was wearing those Ray-Bans type glasses that he had been showing off at MIT last week. I wasn't there- I had seen the web-cast, how he saw his parents for the last time through his memories.

 A great piece of technology, but it was technically taken from me, or the other way around.   After SHIELD  found me trying to break into their headquarters on a dare in the wee hours of the morning five years ago, they took me out of the foster care system, and boom, now I'm here, standing in front of an ever-cocky Tony Stark.

Oh, and I have superpowers, too, but that will take some time to explain.

"Yo, Gracie, you're zoning out again," Tony says, waving in my face.

"Don't call me Gracie, Stark. It's Grace, or Ms. Alburn."

"Okay, Grace, don't start zoning out like that again, it's kinda nerve-wracking." he admitted. Wow, Tony Stark actually admitted that he was afraid of me, but hey, it's not that surprising.  a lot of people who know me are afraid, and have good reason to.

Fine, I will explain:  When SHIELD (Hydra, actually, I think. It really wasn't ethical to experiment on teenagers, but then again, I didn't give a shit, and neither did anyone else, so does it really matter? What am I going to do, sue them?)  - When HYDRA took me out of the foster system, I was sixteen years all, and reckless as hell. Also, I was in good health, good strength, and whatever else they were looking for. Unwanted and forgotten probably made me an attractive candidate- my caseworker was happy to be rid of me, because I kept getting myself kicked out of one home after another.

 I was trouble then, and I'm trouble now, just another person's problem.

Anyways, my powers- they preformed some sort of surgery on me over a series of weeks, or days, or hours, I don't know. I'm sure it was days, but when they were done, everything had changed.  I remembered more about my mother, Shailene, what my first bedroom in that trashy apartment looked like, before Dad disappeared, and other things, other things I shouldn't have remembered, but did- because those things never happened to me.

 I remember being in that whitewashed room with a bunch of doctors who were wearing blue surgical masks and talking in low voices, how the room seemed to be flickering in and out. I could hear people screaming, like they were within and without, and I could even see some of them. They were dressed in clothes that didn't look like they were in style anymore. The doctors could see  and hear it too, and they were freaking out, some of them seeming excited, others seeming afraid.

"Help me!" one man was pleading, grabbing at the doctor's arm. His head was bleeding and he looked like he was from World War 2, based on his clothes. I have seen pictures in history books in school, when I wasn't trying to skip it.  The doctor tried to shake him off, and then I felt them putting a gas mask over my face to put me under, and it all went black.

My powers let me see and recreate history any place- I can project memories from a person or a place, all I need to do is "zone out" and will it. It's both incredible and terrifying, but that's not all. I'm a lot like Wanda Maximoff, a nice, goth-type girl from that Sokovia place I saw on the news. She can bend stuff with her mind, and so can I- I'm just not as strong or as fast as her. I'm getting there.

I like her because she understands.

I am aware of Tony snapping his fingers at me

"Hey, hey, you did it again." he said, waving at me again.

"At least you're going to make money from those glasses of yours." I say. Tony shifts uncomfortably.

"You were a great help, whether you wanted to be or not.  You know, it's because of me that you are what you are-" he started to say.

"So I should be grateful to you like the Vision, like you're some father figure to me?"

"I didn't mean it that way," Tony said, frowning a little, his hands in his pockets.

"I don't care how you meant it." I fire back.

He looks right at me. "I know how badly you want to hang out with Wanda again, but you've got to be in Nigeria first. If you can prove yourself in our little hunt for Rumlow, then maybe you can get on the team."

"You mean I can become an Avenger?" I ask, half sarcastically.

"Yeah, sure, you can become an Avenger." Tony answers with equal sarcasm. He doesn't think that I'll be able to prove myself- that I'm just a dumb 22-year-old who can't handle herself.  I will become an Avenger, just you wait and see.

"Fine, I'll go to Nigeria. You better bring guns, though, otherwise, I'm not going."

Tony rolls his eyes.  "We can't give you much- it makes us look like bad guys. You get two 9mms, that's it. That's the same that Romanoff gets, that's it, that's all. "

"I'll make do, Stark." I say.

"Then congratulations kiddo, you're in for the test. Pack your bags, we're going to Africa."

I roll my eyes. It's going to be a long week.