Chapter 3
"Lagos." Ross continued. There was a burning building, paramedics moving a body, a dead girl. You swallowed again. You, Wanda, and Pietro are particularly affected by the footage from Lagos. Steve saw this and intervened.
"Okay. That's enough." He ordered. Ross nodded to an aide and the images disappeared. "For the past four years," Ross started again, "you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution."
An aide handed him a thick book, which Ross slid across the table to you and Wanda. You picked it up, Wanda looking at the cover with Pietro peering in to read the front of it. You then passed it to Wanda, who gave it to Rhodey.
"The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries...it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Ross said. You were outraged.
Suddenly, you smelled something burning. "Y/N." Wanda whispered to you. You looked at her, then down to the sleeve of your shirt, waving your hand and putting out the fire that had begun to creep up your hand.
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve said.
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross asked. You ground your teeth slightly at the question. Steve looked up and met Ross' eyes. You looked at him as he then turned to you. Your eyes flickered with a flame and he took the slightest step back.
"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . . you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." Ross told him.
"So, there are contingencies." Rhodey said. Ross told you all, "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords."
Steve glanced at Tony and you glanced at the twins. "Talk it over." Ross simply said.
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha spoke again.
"Then you retire." He said.
-
You all gathered at HQ. Steve was sitting, studying the Accords, while Rhodey and Sam argued behind him. You sat with the twins as you told them, "This is ridiculous. We don't need a baby cam on us 24/7."
Pietro nodded as he said, "We don't need people telling us what to do." Wanda piped up, "I get where they are coming from." She stopped when she saw you and Pietro give her a look. She rephrased, "I get where they are coming from, but it doesn't mean I am behind it. I agree with you both, but once upon a time, we weren't exactly with the Avengers were we?"
You nodded at her point. Wanda was usually the voice of reason, and that didn't seem to be changing any time soon.
You listened in to Sam and Rhodey's argument, turning to watch the show. "Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have." Rhodey said.
"So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam countered.
"A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'" Rhodey yelled.
"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam asked.
"I have an equation." Vision piped up. Both the twins turned their attention as well. "Oh, this will clear it up." Sam muttered.
"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." Vision said.
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked suddenly, you could hear the slight anger in his tone. "I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."
"Boom." Rhodey said. You rolled your eyes. Tony was lying on the couch, one hand over his face. When Natasha spoke, he removed the hand to look at her. "Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal."
"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve explained. "Boy, you know me so well." He said as he stood up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache."
"What?" You muttered as you stood from your spot, Wanda keeping her spot in the chair and Pietro leaning forward.
He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a mug. "That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" Tony said.
He put his phone in a basket and tapped it. The phone projected an image of a smiling young man, you looked at it before turning back to Tony. He looked down, then back up, and pretended to notice the picture for the first time.
"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall," Tony started, "But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia."
You looked down so did the twins. "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." Tony ended, taking a pill with his coffee, then facing you all.
"There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys." He said.
"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve told him.
"Who said we're giving up?"
"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames."
"I'm sorry. Steve. That - that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA." Rhodey spoke up.
"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change."
"That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing." Tony said.
"Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."
"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty."
"You're saying they'll come for us." Wanda asked.
"We would protect you." Vision told her.
You countered, "We will protect us. Always. We're in it together, all three of us."
"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha spoke, shocking all of you. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"
"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked.
"I'm just ...I'm reading the terrain. We have made...some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back." Natasha said.
"Yeah, but we aren't children who need a babysitter to tell us when to go to bed and to eat our veggies so we'll be big and strong. We don't need to be told what to do and when to do it." You finally piped up.
Natasha said, "That's not what I'm saying."
"But she does have a poi-." Steve began.
"Focus up. I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony interrupted, dumbfounded.
"Oh, I want to take it back now." She said.
"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed. I win."
Steve's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to check it. "I have to go." He said as he got up sharply, dropping the Accords on the coffee table and going downstairs.