"How did you know I'd be here?"

"Your search history might have given me some ideas."

"You guys have no respect for data privacy, do you?"

He let out an unapologetic chuckle. Funny. She hadn't seen him in years, and yet now it was as if they spoke every day. Apparently, this was what happened when someone knew your deepest, darkest secret, and had chosen not to do anything awful with the knowledge. You shared an unspoken, mutual understanding.

"So, what happened here?" Ana asked, looking around.

"The Darkhold happened."

"The Darkhold?"

"Joseph and Lucy Bauer were after a book that is said to contain infinite knowledge. I assume you're after the same thing as well?"

So, it appeared the "magic book" was the real deal. And it was called the Darkhold, which didn't sound ominous at all. Lovely.

"Okay, first things first… How do you know about the time-traveler?"

"When your father was kidnapped, I was worried that he might have been compromised. So, I—"

"You thought he'd help the terrorists to save his own skin? My dad would never do that!"

"It's my job to doubt people, Ana. Anyway, I knew Tony might try to contact his only family, so I had surveillance on you. A time-traveler wasn't exactly what my men were expecting to find, but well… You Starks are full of surprises. And you can be fiercely secretive when you want to be. Your old man is good. You're even better. That's why I was being subtle about this."

"Is that also why you didn't warn us about Stane?" she asked angrily.

"If I'd told Tony about Stane, he would've demanded proof. What would I have done, then? Show him his daughter's corpse?"

"You could've warned me! Stane was almost going to kill us. I thought you were helping us, but—"

"I was helping you, girl. You think you did a great job hiding from Stane? Who do you think covered your tracks until Tony returned from Afghanistan?"

"If the time-traveler hadn't shown up, would your agents have saved me from Stane's men?"

"Of course."

So, that was how she must have survived in the original timeline. Which also meant that the time-traveler had known that her body would be found by Fury. She must have wanted Ana to work with him. Her plan was much more elaborate than Ana had thought.

"You know, I could really use a ride to LA right now," Fury said.

"Okay. But first, I'd like to take a look around the labs. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. In fact, there's something I want to show you. Maybe you can enlighten me."

Fury took her to what looked like an extremely sophisticated reactor. Ana had no idea the Bauers had been working on something like this.

She gasped in awe. "What is this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

"I can't tell just by looking at it. I need to run some tests… What are those boxes?" she asked, pointing at a pile of boxes in the corner.

"Don't touch anything!"

"But—"

"Do you want to find the Darkhold, or not?"

"I do."

"Trust me, then. Don't touch anything."

"At least let me do some scannings. Is that okay?"

He nodded.

Ana took out her phone and did an infrared scan of the reactor. Okay, this was weird. There were traces of some kind of transdimensional energy that couldn't normally be found in this world.

"I think I know what the reactor does. It harnesses energy from another dimension. But since you don't let me touch anything, that's all I can say."

She then proceeded to scan the boxes in the corner. There was more of that transdimensional energy, and…

"Fury, I think there's something alive in those boxes! Incorporeal, but definitely alive."

Fury frowned. "Let's go," he said curtly. "And you will not come here again. I want you to promise me."

"Why not?"

"We're going to do this my way. If you go behind my back, I'll tell your dad everything. Do you understand?"

"Fine!"

On their way out, Fury turned off the lights and sealed the main entrance shut. It would indeed be as if no one had been here. Then they got into Ana's black Audi R8.

"How much do you know?" she asked as she started the engine.

"I know enough."

"Thanks to Sigyn, I guess."

"Thanks to you, actually."

"Me?"

"I resurrected the time-traveler for questioning."

Ana almost lost control of the wheel. It was a good thing that the road was empty. "You did WHAT?"

"Calm down, Ana. She knew I was going to resurrect her. That was her Plan B."

I knew I shouldn't have asked. "How did you—"

"With the same medicine we used on Coulson. But that thing had… certain side effects, so once I was done questioning her, we were either going to alter her memories, or put her down. She chose the latter."

"So, her plan was to die not once, but twice… What did she tell you?"

"Not everything. She didn't tell me anything about HYDRA, for example. She chose her words with great caution. But she warned me about the scepter. She said there was something 'evil' inside it, and even SHIELD couldn't be trusted with it. And indeed, there was some sort of AI inside the scepter."

"I hope you got rid of it…"

"Don't worry, it's gone now. Oh, and she also said you'd need the Darkhold."

"Did she tell you where to find it?"

"Not really. She told me that you had to wait until 'you could follow it to Hell.' I suppose we'll have to wait and see. Even I don't know where that book is right now."

Geez, can this stuff get any creepier? She decided to change the subject. "So, tell me about Sigyn... Who is she? Why does she live on our planet? And how does she know about Thanos?"

"This is her planet, too, you know. Sigyn is half-human."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, her mother was a Viking, I guess."

"So, is she here to spend more time with her mother's people or something?"

"She came here as the guardian of the Tesseract. After what happened during World War II, Odin decided that humans couldn't be trusted with the cube, so he sent a volunteer to guard it."

"And my grandfather was the one who fished it out of the ocean… That's how they met and became friends."

He nodded. "He convinced her to let humans study the Tesseract. Under her supervision."

"How come no one else in SHIELD knew about her?"

"She only worked with the Director of SHIELD. That was a part of the arrangement."

"She said she owed my grandfather a debt. Do you know what she was talking about?"

"Like I said, she was half-human, half-Asgardian. I suppose back in Asgard that made her feel… inferior."

"She was weaker than your average Asgardian…"

"Yes. And she was the only one. These guys come from a warrior culture. You can imagine how frustrating her situation can be. Sigyn thinks Howard fixed her."

"Fixed her? How?"

"Just before his death, he was able to replicate the super soldier serum. He used it on Sigyn."

"Did my grandfather experiment on an alien?" she gasped. Was there anything Howard Stark had not done?

"Sigyn begged him to use the serum on her."

"And it worked…"

"She still has some weaknesses other Asgardians don't have, but mostly, yeah. It did."

"How does she know about Thanos?"

He snorted. "If you think she tells me everything, you're wrong."

"Does she know about the time-traveler?"

"Yes. But she can't know about the Darkhold. Your future self made that very clear."

"Why can't she know about the Darkhold?"

"Sigyn is very protective of you and your family. And the Darkhold… It's a dangerous thing, Ana. I wish you didn't have to read it either, but… Let's hope your future self knew what she was doing."

"This can't be a coincidence…"

"What can't be a coincidence?"

"My friend, Shuri, saw a vision from that timeline, too. When she was a kid. That's why she approached me in the first place. I received a message from the future. Sigyn must have received some kind of warning as well. And somehow, we all now know each other. Do you think we have an ally?"

"Or, Thanos has an enemy. It's not the same thing."

"I'm sure a guy like Thanos has no shortage of enemies… Do you know why Sigyn warned Skye about me? Is she a part of this as well?"

"She warned Coulson's protégée about you?" he asked, but he didn't sound surprised.

"Yeah. How did they even meet?"

"I think I know how. Sigyn and his sister helped Coulson's team stop a hostile Asgardian before the HYDRA Uprising."

"Her sister? I thought she was the only half-Asgardian?"

"Half-sister," he elaborated. "And Sigyn returned to Asgard with her, so I don't know if we'll ever hear from her again."

"You know why Sigyn warned Skye, don't you?"

"I do. But the less you know, the better."

"Is that what my future self said?"

"Yes," he said simply.

Then, a disturbing thought occurred to Ana. "Wait… You said Grandpa Stark replicated the serum just before his death… Was that car accident really an accident?"

A sad smile played about Fury's lips. "I was never able to prove it. But now, the truth is out there, waiting to be found. Let's see what you can dig up."

"Just to be clear, you're not my mentor or anything… Not when you have so much innocent blood on your hands."

"Is this about what happened at the Academy?"

"You knew something was about to happen! You could've protected them!"

"That would've been too suspicious. I did what I did for the greater good."

"The greater good? Tell that to the families who trusted you with their kids!"

"Survivor's guilt," he said, and his voice gave her the impression that he was speaking from experience. "You're going to have to learn to live with it, Ana."

"Yeah, because of you…"

"And do you think you're innocent? Your father is one of the smartest men in this world, and you've been manipulating him for years! Hell, even Romanoff bought your Little Miss Perfect act! You can't do something like that without a dark side."

"What?" she cried. "I'm not manipulating anybody! I'm just protecting my dad."

Lying to Romanoff had never been difficult, but that was because she had never spent much time with her. But lying to her dad and Pepper? Yeah, that wasn't easy. In fact, she was now grateful to her boarding school experience. Having to sleep under the same roof with her enemies for three years had turned her into a good liar.

"And you used Coulson just to get my attention."

"I didn't—"

"I was doing this long before you were born, girl. Don't teach me my job."

"Still, I wasn't the one who had the power to save those cadets."

"I thought you didn't care much about those kids."

"No. But just because I have trust issues doesn't mean I'm homicidal."

"You remind me of my granddad."

"Why?"

"Granddad loved people. He just didn't trust them much."

"What about my dad? Did the future me say anything about my dad?"

"No," Fury replied, but Ana wasn't sure if it was true.

It was time to ask the perhaps the most important question. "Am I allowed to know when Thanos will come?"

"Some time in 2018. Let's hope we'll be ready when he does."

"We? Who else knows?"

"Very few people. All are still loyal to me."

"Is Maria Hill among them?"

"Yes. And before she applied for a job at Stark, I told her to be loyal to you. Not to your dad, not to Ms. Potts. You."

"Thanks, I suppose," she muttered. She now had a spy. At her own father's company. Like she didn't have enough guilt on her plate…

"Hill is my most capable and trustworthy agent, Ana. Don't say I didn't do anything for you."

…

By the time she returned to New York, the rest of the Avengers had finally come to stay in the tower. They had a long list of HYDRA bases to raid, and they were ready to start once Prince T'Challa joined them. Ana had vouched for him, and the rest of the team had agreed to keep his secrets.

Everyone had gathered on the balcony to welcome the newest additions to the team. She heard Clint whistle in awe behind her as the Royal Talon Flyer landed. Shuri was the first to emerge from the jet, followed by two women. One was wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but the other was in her traditional Dora Milaje outfit, and had a vibranium spear in her hand. It looked super badass, true, but Ana hoped she had less conspicuous tac gear if she were to fight alongside the Avengers. Otherwise, she would be really difficult to explain to the public.

Shuri and Ana hugged each other. "Welcome back to New York, Princess."

"It's good to be back. Come on, meet Nakia and Okoye."

"Hi!" Ana said. "Shuri told me so much about you."

Shuri nodded. "She knows how badass you are."

The two women politely smiled.

"I know what you're thinking, and no, they won't be joining the Avengers on their missions. They're only here to help T'Challa capture Klaue."

In the meantime, Prince T'Challa himself had finally appeared, with a "My little sister dragged me into this" look on his face, and was greeted by her dad and Pepper. Even without the Panther Habit, he looked like he was someone who had been trained to be a warrior king his whole life. He gave Ana a measuring look as they shook hands. She couldn't blame him. For years, his sister had been obsessed with Ana Maria Stark, believing she was somehow the key to save the world. She had so much hype to live up to.

"I'm glad we finally met, Ana. Shuri speaks so highly of you."

"I just hope I won't disappoint," she said apologetically. She knew she was supposed to tell her dad about Thanos, but she had failed to fulfill that promise.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Stark!" Shuri exclaimed. "I loved your Mark 42 footage, by the way!"

He turned to Ana. "That video was for your eyes only! Traitor…"

"Don't worry, T'Challa's videos are more embarrassing," Ana said sharply. If Shuri was determined to cause her trouble, Ana would return the favor.

"Shuri!" T'Challa hissed. "I told you to delete that footage…"

Shuri shrugged innocently.

Once the introductions were made, Ana showed Shuri to her apartment, then helped her set up in her lab, where they would be working on the Mind Stone element while the Avengers were busy waging war on HYDRA.

"Hello, Princess Shuri," JARVIS said. "It's so good to see you again."

"I missed you, too, JARVIS," she said, then crossed to the stand where they kept Loki's scepter. "Have you made any breakthroughs?"

"Nope."

"Maybe we should cut the blue gem open… The stone inside would be easier to analyze, then."

"If we destroy the shell, I don't know where else to keep the stone. This thing is pure energy; it would melt through any material."

Shuri rolled her eyes, and took out a tube from one of her crates. It was vibranium, in its raw form. "You didn't think I came here empty-handed, did you?"

Ana had never seen raw vibranium before. "May I?"

Shuri tossed the tube at her. "How much progress have you made so far?"

"Not much. You do realize it took Grandpa Stark a lifetime to discover one element, right? Technically, we're centuries away from creating the Nexus."

"And my team said we were decades away from a nanotech Panther Habit," she said, dangling a ceremonial necklace before her. Then she put it on an empty mannequin, and the vibranium suit quickly materialized around it. Ana had seen the footage before. The suit's nanites were stored in said necklace.

"This might be the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"That's because you haven't seen my lab," she bragged.

"Maybe someday."

"So, what else are you working on these days? Any upgrade for your dad's suits?"

"He doesn't need my help to upgrade his suits. But he wants to give me one."

She beamed at Ana. "What?"

"Yeah, he had a change of heart when he found out I was among the Project Insight targets."

"And?" she asked expectantly.

"At first, I said no. But I think I want to give it a try."

"If you want to put on an Iron Man suit, you know you still have to overcome your fear of heights, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Shuri had a point. If she was to be the heiress to the Iron Man mantle as well, she should be able to fly.

"Then maybe we should start working on that."

"Okay. Once the team goes on their first mission. I don't want an audience."

…

Ana had never thought she would find herself inside an Iron Man suit. And yet, here she was, in Mark 42—her dad had reconstructed it, mostly for nostalgia reasons—and standing on the edge of the balcony. Shuri could be quite persistent.

The Avengers had gone on their first mission against the remaining HYDRA forces. Pepper and Hill were having a meeting. Ana's only audience was Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia.

She looked at the nauseating height beneath her again, and sucked in a sharp breath. She just couldn't stop thinking about how long a fall from this point would take, and how terrifying it would be. "You know what, maybe we should start with an easier exercise. This is too advanced for me."

"At some point, you're going to have to do this. The sooner, the better."

"Maybe I should pick another suit. Mark 42 is notoriously unstable."

"No, no, this is the right choice," Shuri said, grinning mischievously.

"Actually, miss, the second version of Mark 42 is perfectly stable," JARVIS chimed in. Ana wondered whose side JARVIS was on.

Okoye and Nakia swapped bored looks.

"Just think about it," Shuri went on. "All you have to do it to take this one step. Then you're a superhero."

Ana closed her eyes. Shuri was right. How was she supposed to fight Thanos, or anyone who wanted to hurt her dad, while she couldn't even fight her own irrational fears? But then, she knew she was never meant to be a fighter.

"I don't think I can do it," she admitted at last. "This is crazy, I can't even—"

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her back, and before she could even react, she was falling and tumbling through the air. Her greatest fear had come true. Instinctively, she started screaming, but JARVIS took over and fired the repulsors, allowing her to defy gravity. Once she realized she wasn't falling to her death anymore, the initial panic was replaced with anger, and she dashed up to the balcony.

"No!" Shuri cried, staring at her tablet. "Don't come down! Your fear level has reached its peak, now you have to wait until it drops by at least 50%. Otherwise, this will all be for nothing."

Shuri had a point, so Ana paused, and remained hovering in the air. The hardest part was over, and flying wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. She just hated that wobbly feeling, but it could be worse. At least her feet touched something solid, even though that solid thing was basically the inner surface of a flying can.

It didn't mean she had forgotten what had been done to her, though. "Which one of you pushed me?" she asked angrily.

"I did," Okoye said. "What are you going to do about it?"

Ana hesitated for a second. If she attacked Okoye in this suit, that would be overkill. She was angry, yes, but not that angry. And if she attacked her without the suit… She rather liked her bones intact, thank you very much. "Nothing."

"Good," Okoye said curtly, but she was grinning.

"What am I supposed to now?" she asked Shuri.

"You can fly, for Bast's sake! Go have some fun!"

Flying might not be too bad, but she couldn't say she had started having fun yet, and she wasn't sure if she ever could.

Dad would be proud, she told herself as she flew in circles above Manhattan.

Speaking of her dad, he was now calling her.

"Hey, Dad!"

"Ana? What exactly are you doing with Mark 42, honey?"

"Uhm, it's nothing… I'm just having a little therapy session. Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad? It's okay. So, how does it feel?"

"Not bad."

"Not bad? Seriously?"

"This is actually a bit embarrassing."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it kind of is."

"Is that why you decided to do this when I'm not around?"

"Are you guilt-tripping me?"

"You were there to see my first flight. I didn't get to see yours. It's not fair."

"Yours was fun. Trust me, mine is just boring."

"Maybe we should have a race when I get back."

"Speaking of, when will you guys be back?"

"Well, we're almost done here. We'll probably be back at the tower tonight."

"Good. See you soon, then!"

"Goodbye, kid. You make your old man proud." He laughed, and hung up.

JARVIS was showing her fear level—it was an algorithm Ana and Shuri had written based on the blood pressure, pulse, and other vitals—in the right upper corner of the HUD. It had dropped from 72% to 40% during the call. Ana kept flying until it dropped to 20%, then returned to the tower to find Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye sipping coffee on the balcony.

"I didn't know you liked Starbucks." They had a Starbucks in the tower, but Ana had never thought Okoye would be interested. Maybe Shuri and Nakia had convinced her to give it a try.

Okoye shrugged. "It's not so bad."

"So… Do you think it worked?" Shuri asked curiously.

"I think it did, yeah. Thank you for helping me, guys."

"Ana," Maria Hill interrupted them. "Time for another sparring session."

Ana groaned. "Seriously? Can't you just give me a break?"

Hill smirked. "No."

Seeing that there was no other way, Ana followed her inside the tower.

"How much do they know?" Hill whispered once they were out of earshot.

"T'Challa and Shuri, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Everything, except for the Darkhold." The Darkhold was one of the few things that weren't even in the Nexus Protocol files. Ana had deleted everything about Momentum Labs, the Bauers, or the Darkhold from JARVIS' memory. And she repeated the same process after every time she or Hill mentioned them again. Shuri couldn't know about the book. No one could. According to Fury, the infinte knowledge in the Darkhold was meant to corrupt people's minds.

"What if they tell Tony? Or the rest of the team?"

"They won't. I know paranoia is a part of your job, but you can trust them."

"Is that so? Wasn't Shuri a spy when she first came to New York?"

"She wasn't a spy! She'd just learned a few tricks from her brother's girlfriend."

"So, the future queen of Wakanda is a spy… Wonderful!"

"Nakia is not the future queen of Wakanda. I think they broke up."

"Whatever. You should be careful."

"I told you, you're being paranoid."

"Let's hope they prove me wrong…"

…

"I just got an e-mail from your dad," Shuri announced when Ana joined her in the lab the next morning. The sparring session with Hill had left her with sore muscles as usual, but at least there were no fresh bruises this time. Maybe Hill had decided to show her some mercy after seeing that Ana was willing to overcome her biggest fear. "Subject: Payback is a Bitch. Hmm, this looks promising…"

Seriously? Ana thought. The Avengers had just returned from the mission, and was this how her dad wanted to spend his vacation day? Getting petty revenge? Nevertheless, she decided to see what he had sent Shuri.

It was a video of a six-year-old Ana, dancing to Smooth Criminal on her dad's first holotable. Stark Industries had manufactured one of the earliest holotable prototypes. She couldn't help but smile when she remembered how excited she had been about it. Now, it looked ancient.

"Alright, you had your fun. Now let's get back to work."

"You're such a buzzkill. You know that, right?"

"We still have an element to discover."

"The element is not the only thing you've been working on, though…"

Of course Shuri had noticed. "No," Ana admitted.

"What is it, Ana?"

"I'm going through the leaked HYDRA files. To find out the truth about my grandparents' death."

"What?"

"I met Fury in Malibu."

"I knew you weren't there for a vacation…"

She couldn't tell her about Momentum Labs, or the Darkhold, so instead, she said, "He promised to help us find the other Infinity Stones. Oh, Sigyn is half-human, by the way. She came to Earth to guard the Tesseract after WWII. That's how she met the founders of SHIELD. And just before his death, my grandfather was able to replicate the super soldier serum and he used it on her."

"That actually explains a lot."

"Yep. Fury also told me my grandparents' death might not be an accident. I've been working on this since then. I know we should focus on the Nexus right now, but I need to know, Shuri…"

"Of course," she said softly. "They were your family. You deserve to know the truth. I'll worry about the element, you just keep looking."

"Thanks," she mumbled and started to decrypting more of said files.

And about half an hour later, she finally found something.

Mission Report: December 16, 1991

…

Ana wasn't sure which was worse. The fact that her grandparents had been brutally murdered in cold blood, or the fact that their murderer was Captain America's best friend.

"What are you going to do now?" Shuri asked.

There was only one thing she could do. "JARVIS, where's Cap?"

"Captain Rogers is currently in his apartment."

"Print out a copy of that mission report, will you?"

"Yes, miss."

Knowing what Captain America meant to her dad, Ana kept a certain distance between Steve Rogers and herself. As for Steve, he was mostly indifferent, if not mistrustful towards her. Especially after finding out that Fury had sent her on a mission with Hawkeye to retrieve the scepter. It was as if he knew Ana had too many secrets. She wasn't looking forward to having this conversation with him, but he was still a good man, and a part of the team. He deserved to know.

He opened the door after the first knock. "Hi, Ana. Can I help you with something?"

She entered, and closed the door behind her. "There's something you need to know. About your friend, Sergeant Barnes."

"You found him?" His voice was full of hope and excitement.

"No. I found a report… On one of his missions as the Winter Soldier. This might be hard to process, but it concerns all of us. Here."

But Steve didn't take the report. Instead, he closed his eyes and sighed, as if he was surrendering.

"Wait… You knew," Ana gasped upon the realization. Apparently, even Captain America had a dark side. "You knew!"

"Yes." His whisper was barely audible.

"How?"

"After SHIELD fell, Natasha called in some favors, gave me everything she could find on Bucky."

Ana laughed bitterly. "So, Natasha knows as well. Great! When were you going to tell us?"

"Once we destroyed HYDRA for good. You can't tell Tony now, Ana."

As honest as possible. "Oh, I'm going to tell him."

"What? Ana, we're at war with HYDRA! Tony cannot be distracted. You know him better than anyone else. If you tell him now, he'll do something reckless on our next mission!"

No doubt Cap genuinely believed he could tell his friend the truth once this war was won. But then, something else would come up, and he would decide to wait just a little bit longer. Then there would be another perfectly reasonable excuse not to tell him, and the lies would keep piling up. That was the thing about secrets. The longer you waited, the harder they became to explain.

"No," she said firmly. "He has to know."

"Why did you want to see me, then? Clearly my opinion on this means nothing to you."

"Because Sergeant Barnes is your friend, and I'm a decent human being. I thought I should give you a heads-up."

"Do you expect a thank you?"

"Well, yeah. I'm aware that your friend is the victim here, Cap, but my grandparents deserve justice as well."

"This is not about them, though, is it? This is about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Fury could've sent Barton alone to retrieve the scepter. He didn't need you for that mission. So, what else was on that island, Ana?"

Shit. Steve was smarter than he looked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you keep a secret from Tony. A big one. And now you want to give him something else to ease your guilty conscience. It's also why you told us about Coulson, isn't it?"

Relax, she told herself. Cap was just bluffing. Even if he shared his suspicions with her dad, he wouldn't believe him.

"Are you threatening me, Rogers?"

"I'm not threatening you, Ana. All I'm saying is, if you're in trouble, and for whatever reason, if it's something your dad can't know, you can still count on the rest of the team. You can count on me."

"Oh, so you're bribing me…"

"Why are you twisting my words?"

"This is family business, Rogers. I don't expect you to understand."

I shouldn't have said that, she thought when she saw the pained look on his face, but his next words changed her mind. "Says the girl who doesn't even know who her mother is."

A part of her wondered what would happen if she donned a suit and punched him in the face. Thankfully, a more sensible part made her storm out of the apartment without a word.

"JARVIS, where is Dad?"

JARVIS said he was watching TV with Pepper in the penthouse. Yeah, it was a good thing that Pepper was there with him. Ana was very glad that she wouldn't have to do this alone.

"Hey, Ana," Pepper smiled when she saw her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just want to talk to you guys."

Her dad frowned. "Kid? What's going on?"

"There's something you need to know."

"What's that?" he asked, looking at the folder in her hand.

Ana sat down next to him, and gave him the mission report. She tried not to think much about the reaction he would give. He had to know, and it was all that mattered. "The truth about your mom and dad… About how they died."