𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 ━ steve rogers

chapter twenty-four

His face mask came down. "Keep the skies clear," he replied. "And keep Aunt Gracie safe." Grace looked at him.

"You come back, you hear me?" He nodded and soon shot up into the sky and she looked up at his flying figure, a flash of red and gold retreating.

"Let's get moving, then."

Grace let out a breath and got into the passenger seat. "Why can't I ever just have a normal life?" she asked herself.

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 time she had met Obadiah Stane. He was a friend of her brother's who eventually became a work colleague. She had always thought there was something... different about him, but never said anything out of respect for Howard. It turned out she was right for her suspicions.

He was now pummeling her nephew into the ground, trying to kill him while he watched and listened hopelessly.

Grace looked up at the sky, standing beside Pepper. Tony was flying as fast as he could with Stane right behind him. She glanced at the woman next to her. "Are you okay?" She nodded wordlessly. "I don't think this is what you had in mind when you took this job."

"Not in the slightest."

"He'll be okay," Grace said, mostly trying to reassure herself. "He's a Stark."

"He's your nephew," Pepper contradicted and Grace looked at her. "You know, when he hired me, he spent about twenty minutes talking about you. Not himself or even his parents. It was only you. You made him the person he is today. Of course, he'll be okay. Because he had you as his role model." Grace smiled softly. "And now I have to go help him. So I'll be right back."

Before Grace could say anything, Pepper walked into the building that was covered in shattered glass toward the console. Grace looked up and saw the fighting had moved to the roof and Tony was hanging on by a bar, dangling over the console where Pepper was.

"Tony!"

Obadiah laughed and looked at the struggling man. "How ironic, Tony. Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"

"Pepper!"

"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" Grace jumped when she saw a blast nearly hit Tony. "You ripped out my targeting system!"

"Time to hit the button!"

"You told me not to!" Pepper shouted back up at Tony.

"Hold still, you little prick!" There was another explosion and Grace glanced between Tony and Pepper, trying to figure out what they were planning.

"Just do it!"

"You'll die!"

A third explosion and Tony was hanging from the roof with one arm. "Push it!" he shouted impatiently.

Pepper pushed the button and quickly ran outside, crashing into Grace in the process. The brunette looked up from the ground just as electricity shot out from the top of the roof and she heard Obadiah's screams. She covered her hand at the sight of the light shooting into the sky before it quickly vanished.

It was quiet until Obadiah fell through the hole and the building blew up. Grace pulled Pepper out of the way and she looked back when the fire diminished.

Before Pepper could stop her, Grace ran into the building and looked around. She quickly hurried up the stairs to the roof where she found Tony lying next to the hole. She kneeled next to him and he let out a gasp and she sighed in relief.