Vision was missing. Again.

It was quite an irony that the only things Tony couldn't outsmart were his own creations. Vision's transponder was off, and Tony wasn't able to force it back on remotely. No doubt the android was with his girlfriend, and he didn't trust anyone with her location, not even with Tony, even though he knew Tony had basically let her and the others escape the Raft. He just hoped Vision wouldn't make a habit of this. If the world needed the Avengers, they should be able to reach him. They were already running short on staff. It appeared Vision had learned nothing from what had happened to Ana.

"So, was Vision dating Wanda?" Peter asked, as if he could read his thoughts, but Tony knew mind-reading wasn't one of his gifts.

"What makes you think that?" he asked coolly.

"I saw them… at the airport… after the fight. Come on, sir, it was pretty obvious!"

Tony smiled. He liked having the kid around. After the Accords, the Compound had become a sad place. Tony, Rhodey, and Vision were the only Avengers who lived here. The rest were gone, and he didn't think they would ever come back. Rogers, Romanoff, Wanda, and Wilson were still on the run. Barton had made a deal with the government; he was now under house arrest, but at least he was with his family. Tony had heard that there was a similar arrangement for Scott Lang as well. It eased his conscience a bit. It was never his intention to separate the two men from their families. Hank Pym and his daughter were also fugitives, but even though the accusations were unfair, considering they had never been directly involved, Tony didn't really feel bad about it. He was pretty sure Pym would have gladly sent Lang to kick Tony's ass if Lang had asked for permission before going to Germany. Pym hated the Starks with a passion, even though neither Tony nor Ana had done him anything.

Peter had refused to become an Avenger. He just wanted to be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But he had been caught in the suit by his aunt. Her terms were clear: Either Tony was going to give him an actual internship, or she was going to sue Tony for child-soldiering. So, Peter came here every Saturday, and worked as Tony's intern. No superhero business. Just lab work.

"They are dating, then!" Peter exclaimed, misinterpreting Tony's smile. "I knew it! But how's that possible? I mean, technically, Vision is a computer."

"Well, it happens."

"Yeah, but it's a bit weird… in a good way. Don't you agree, sir?"

"Kid, are you here for the science, or the gossip?" Tony scolded him, and regretted it immediately. The kid was sometimes too curious for his own good. But then, curiosity was the mark of a true genius.

"Peter, it is 6 PM," FRIDAY interrupted them. It was easy to lose track of time here in the lab, but Peter had a bus to catch, and FRIDAY knew that.

"You still don't have your license, right?" Tony asked as he saw him out.

"I'll get it this summer… I hope."

"Good. Let me know if you need help. Happy can give you a few lessons."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark! See you next week!" he said, hoisting his backpack on his shoulders, and ran out of the lab.

A few seconds later, Ana entered, which was a bit unexpected. She rarely got out of her room these days. He was mentally worn out after spending hours here with Peter, but he didn't care. If she wanted to join him in the lab, that was awesome progress. He would do anything Ana wanted.

"Hey, kid. What's up?"

"Dad, I might have an idea… to bring my memories back."

Right. Ana had thought of asking Vision to use the Mind Stone, but then decided against it, for they didn't know what was buried in her head. Whatever he found, Vision might share it with Wanda. Ana didn't want to take the risk. "What's the idea?"

"BARF."

Tony thought for a moment. Normally, BARF was to repress memories by replacing them with more pleasant counterparts, but in order to do that, the original memories had to be recreated clearly enough to be manipulated. So, yeah, it could be used.

"It's worth a shot."

"Good. Let's do it."

"Now?"

"Yeah. Why wait? I mean, it can wait if you're tired or busy—"

"No, I'm good." He got on his feet, though a bit reluctantly. Dum-E and U had already begun setting up the equipment.

"Look, Dad, I know you're scared. I'm scared, too. That's why I waited until Peter left. Those memories might not exactly be PG-13."

That was what he feared. Maybe it wasn't someone, or something that had given her amnesia. Maybe it was just her own mind protecting itself. From something traumatic. It was a common phenomenon. And with fiery skull demons and other dimensions involved, some gory stuff was very likely to have occurred. But Ana wouldn't rest until she discovered the truth. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn't rest either.

…

Soon, they were ready to go. Or, at least, Ana was. She took her seat, and smiled at him. "Hey, whatever happened over there, I survived it," she reminded him. "Let's not forget that."

Tony tried to smile back. She was still much braver than he could ever be. "Okay, we'll start from the most recent memory, and go back from there… FRIDAY?"

"We're good to go, boss."

Ana placed the headset on her head. "Let's do this."

"Hey, if you change your mind, at any point, just say the word. You don't have to go through with any of… whatever is about to be revealed."

"I know, Dad. Thanks."

The blue pixels formed a hospital room. Ana was lying in an operation bed, and she could see her reflection on the small mirror that was placed above her face. There were two doctors standing beside her. They were wearing surgical masks, but one was clearly male, and the other female.

"She's going to fight it," the male doctor said. "Maybe we should try putting her under."

"No," the other one objected. "We've had resisting patients before. Coulson made it clear: Mr. Reyes wants her to forget everything that happened over there."

Ana wasn't even looking at them. She was looking at herself. Her gaze was fixated on the mirror. "Thanos… You must remember Thanos."

And then, the procedure started. A craniotomy saw started cutting her skull open, and a piercing scream filled the room. But she quickly returned to repeating the words: "Thanos… Remember Thanos. You must remember Thanos… Death is what gives life meaning."

As for Tony, his legs gave way and he fell down on his knees. He was too weak to do anything, even to turn BARF off. He wanted to throw up as he watched the skull cap get removed, and a machine come into view. It started poking Ana's brain with its many needles, at an unnatural speed. This wasn't a simulation, or a trick. This was a real memory. At some point in the past, she had been through this. She literally had. And Tony had had no idea until now.

The male doctor seemed a lot less comfortable with the ongoing operation than his colleague. "Look at her!" he was saying. "Every patient who's been on this table begged us to let them die! This one's begging herself to remember! It's not going to work."

"Then we'll keep going until we break her!"

The needles started moving even faster. Ana's determined gaze remained fixated on her reflection. "Thanos… Death is what gives life meaning."

"DAD, STOP IT!" the present Ana cried. "STOP IT, PLEASE! SHUT IT DOWN!"

Somehow, he found the strength to scramble back to his feet and go to press the turn off button. Then he went to remove the headset. Ana was shivering and screaming uncontrollably. He pulled her into a hug. It wasn't going to be enough, but he didn't know what else to do to comfort her.

"It's okay," he whispered, gently rocking her back and forth. "You're home, baby girl. You're safe."

"Dad, please don't put me back in there! I can't go through that again, please…"

Damn, how disoriented was she, to think that Tony would ever let her go through that again? He had barely been able to watch it. Even if she were willing to try again, Tony wouldn't let her. Ever."I won't," he promised. "I won't. Never."

After a few deep breaths, she calmed down a bit, even though she was still shaking.

"I felt it, Dad. I felt my skull being cut open! I felt those needles on my brain!" She touched her head with both hands, as if she wanted to make sure it was still intact.

"I know, honey. But I'm going to make it right. I'm going to make this right, I promise."

"How?"

"Don't you trust me?"

There was a time Tony believed he would burn the world if anyone so much as laid a finger on Ana, or Pepper. But ever since New York, the universe hadn't stopped to remind him he was never as powerful as he thought he was. He knew he didn't deserve Ana's trust, but he was still asking for it, hoping he could be worthy of it for once.

"I do," she said. Of course, she said that. She always did.

He carried her to the medical bed in the corner, and went to get some sedatives. She was still shivering by the time he returned. But it was that blank look in her eyes that scared him the most. It was like she wasn't even here anymore.

"I'm going to sedate you now," he said. "Everything's going to be okay when you wake up."

"Dad?"

"Yes, baby girl?"

"I should've come home."

"You're home now. It's all that matters." He injected her with the sedative, which did its job quickly.

God, when he found Coulson, those doctors—"butchers" would actually be a more appropriate word to describe them—and whoever else was responsible for that shit, he was going to kill them. He wasn't interested in their side of the story, he didn't want to hear whatever bullshit excuse they had come up with to justify this.

But whatever it was they had made Ana forget, whatever the hell Thanos was, he was going to let it go, even though every fiber of his being told him not to. There was no way to elicit the truth without hurting Ana, and he couldn't do that to her, no matter what was at stake.

…

No matter how painful it was for him to work on it, he spent the following days recreating that memory for Ana. Now it would be as if she had begged the doctors to let her go and they had listened. Ana knew it wasn't the truth, but the brain itself cared more about how it made you feel than what the actual memory was. So, at least she had one less thing to be traumatized by.

Pepper knew the whole thing. They hadn't lied to her about it. She wanted to help, but she was hesitant to interact with Ana, and Ana was unresponsive to her attempts. It wasn't anybody's fault. They were trying, but they hadn't had the chance to sort this out in a safe and calm environment. Pepper had decided to focus on work until then, so that she wouldn't be distracted when they did. There was also the fact that the wedding preparations would soon begin. She was going to need lots of free time.

Tony was heading out to pick her up from the airport tonight. She was returning from a business trip to California, and he had already missed her. On his way out, he saw Ana alone in the communal kitchen, looking at the papers scattered on the coffee table. He knew what those papers were. Various reports on SHIELD, written by Air Force and all the intelligence agencies one could think of.

"Kid? What are you doing with those again?"

"I'll go over them with Vision. He promised to help."

He checked his watch. He actually didn't have to leave home for another 10 minutes. Funny how missing Pepper made him uncharacteristically punctual. Well, being punctual had its perks. A discussion with Ana about Coulson's team was long overdue.

"Kid," he started, joining her on the couch. "Reread those files all you want. There's not one single thing in them that can justify what's been done to you."

"I want to believe they had a good reason. I want to forgive them… Wow. I'm just like you right now, aren't I? I've become a doormat!" She laughed hysterically.

"Well, you did your best to make sure I wouldn't become one, so I guess it's time for me to return the favor."

"It didn't work, though. Not until Vienna."

"Do I have to go survive a bombing?" he joked.

"No, of course not," she gave in reluctantly. "I know I should listen to your advice… which is actually my own advice."

"Exactly."

"Still… I can't shake off this feeling that this would've never happened if I hadn't broken their trust with all those terrible things I did. That's particularly sad, because JARVIS would never want me to end up like this, especially for trying to avenge him."

"On that we agree."

Her shoulders drooped. "How can I stop feeling so empty, Dad? When JARVIS died, I kept myself busy with revenge. Then there was hope, with the Darkhold. Now, there's nothing. Just a void."

Yeah, he had figured aliens weren't the only reason Ana had wanted the book. He put one arm around her shoulders and smoothed her hair with the other hand. He was grateful to her, for her willingness to go on. He couldn't even imagine how painful life had to be for her, but she refused to give up because he needed her. He wanted to thank her a million times for that alone.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you angry with me?"

"No!"

"Not even about the Darkhold?"

"No," he repeated firmly.

"If I'd come to you about the book…"

"Would you stop me, if I lost Pepper?" he asked, knowing what her question was.

"No."

"Then you know the answer." The answer was, obviously, the fact that Ana would do anything to help him get the book, but she would also do anything to read it before he could, so that he wouldn't have to. Tony would do the same for her. Perhaps this was why the option of looking for the book wasn't even on the table. They both knew this was time to stick together, not to be busy outsmarting each other.

"I'm picking up Pepper from the airport. Come with me," he suggested to change the mood.

"I don't know, Dad… I love Pepper, but I feel so guilty every time I look at her. All those awful things I said..."

"She knows you didn't mean them. It was a self-defense mechanism. Your mind was trying to cope with two losses."

"Yeah, but I still said them."

"It will get better in time, I promise. But not if you keep avoiding her. Come on. Baby steps."

She looked at him, and then the reports on the table, indecisive. He got up on his feet, pulled her up, and gave him the best puppy eyes he could manage. "Please?"

"Okay," she relented, chuckling softly.

It didn't make a big difference, but it went well. He loved how Pepper's beautiful face lit up when she emerged from the jet and saw that Ana was waiting for her with him on the tarmac. Baby steps.