Pepper recognizes that edge to Gene's voice, and it seems out of place in this house, where there is no armor between them. He sounds like he did when he found out Tony was Iron Man - betrayed, angry, sorrowful. Back then she was too shocked to recognize it, but now she knows what she's looking for. Slowly, she unfolds herself from her sitting position and moves closer to the kitchen, towards Gene, hugging herself.

"Is that what it was like? With Malicant, I mean," she says quietly, stopping a few feet from him. Before she had no reason to fear that long-gone evil. Now she does.