Steve
"I don't have an answer for that, Natasha!"
Bruce has a wild look in his eyes and he's pacing by the door, agitation and nervous energy coming off him in waves. Steve is astonished to see there doesn't seem to be any hint of green.
Bruce is angry and the monster is dormant?
"Easy, Doctor."
He's standing now too, his hands up trying to calm Bruce down.
"No one blames you for leaving. Ultron was a lot. For everybody. We're just trying to get everyone on the same page now."
"Yeah, about that, Captain."
Bruce turns his attention on him now and Steve wonders immediately how they got here so quickly, the three of them squaring off. He recognizes desperation in Nat's stance too. Was this their team? Had he really broken the Avengers so badly they couldn't even have a conversation? Even when he was so grateful to see Bruce Banner alive part of him just wanted to cry out in relief, to run up and embrace him, to find something good somewhere.
"What the hell happened? Tony said the Avengers broke up! How is that possible?"
Steve exchanges a look with Nat.
"It's complicated."
"Don't bullshit me."
There is a frenetic fire in Bruce Banner that didn't use to be there, like he's seen too much and Steve thinks he can attribute at least part of that to the same thing affecting everyone, to the despair that threatens every thought he has, but it's something else, too. His time in space. Something's happened to him, something to do with the fact that while Steve was wary about how upset the doctor was, he wasn't for once worried he might go green.
He has to do something. He has to stop thinking about his own losses, about the relentless, grim path he's taken. Nat is right. He needs to be a human being.
"Okay. Okay."
"Steve."
"Nat, it's fine."
He heaves a heavy sigh, his eyes on Bruce.
"It's my fault. We can go into it about the Sokovia Accords another time, but this thing with me and Stark -- it's on me."
Steve hurries the last part, wanting to cut off any protests Natasha might have. This isn't something they had really discussed, although he suspects she knows more than he's told her. But blaming this whole rift on the Accords was the easy way out and he didn't want to do that.
"What happened, Steve?"
Bruce's tone is gentler now, tired the way it should be. Steve relaxes a little, even if this is the last thing he wants to talk about.
"Long story short, after Ultron the UN put together the Sokovia Accords, this...agreement. That any specially powered people had to sign and register with in order to go about their daily lives. For us -- for the Avengers -- it meant that we would report to the UN for all assignments."
"That sounds -- registration?" Bruce looks shocked. "Geez, Cap. Kinda harsh. No wonder Tony --"
"He signed," Natasha interrupts him steadily, as though she knew that Bruce would make that mistake. Steve wonders if it's that obvious that things had gone so sideways back then. That people had expected him — stalwart and loyal Captain America — to nod and say yes, sir to the government. That no one would have expected party boy Tony Stark to let them put a leash on his own neck.
"He was the first. So did I, by the way." Natasha glances at him. "Steve didn't."
Bruce doesn't look like he believes her, but Steve just shakes his head.
"We don't need to go into who did what. Everyone had their reasons."
It seems like a lifetime ago, but Steve still finds it difficult when Tony's absence in his life now feels so large. He wishes fervently he knew where he is.
"What it boils down to is...Bucky."
He senses movement from Natasha beside him, but she seems to change her mind halfway through and instead she crosses over to Bruce and somehow manages to get him to sit down again, apparently without his thinking about it. The doctor's face is hard to look at -- he wears devastation openly, where Steve has been working hard to hide it.
"I'm so sorry, Steve."
He nods at him, not wanting to dismiss his sympathy. He hasn't given himself much allowance to grieve Bucky's loss. Or Sam's or Wanda's or Vision's. All of them -- they were still avoiding talking about their losses too directly.
It makes him think about Shuri and the loss of her brother and he hopes he has time to check in with her and with Okoye soon.
"While under HYDRA's influence, Bucky murdered Howard and Maria Stark."
Steve watches as understanding dawns on Bruce's face and he can picture the trajectory of his thoughts, the same that had run through his mind when he'd figured it out. The same shift of blame that ended in stalemate. A glance toward Nat's face tells him what he already knows; that she had worked it out herself, that she feels the same.
"God, no wonder..."
Bruce seems to be taking it in and Steve figures he's in it already, so he may as well go on.
"We fought. Dragged a lot of people into it with us. It was...not good. And ever since, we've been on the run. Me and Nat. And Bucky, Sam, and Wanda." His voice is steady and he pushes past the grief; he's a soldier, he can handle it. "Vision and Rhodey stayed with Tony at the compound you saw -- Tony's been the public face of the Avengers, guarding the world -- mainly with the suits -- in the light while we take care of it from the shadows."
Nat's face is thoughtful as she watches him and he shrugs a little, looking away. Putting words to the unspoken agreement between himself and Tony is different, but he knew it isn't imagined. Tony is probably still justifiably angry with him, but he could have easily tracked him down, tried to put a stop to their missions. Turned them in. He never did. And Steve is certain he has been just as aware of Vision and Wanda's tryst as he is.
They worked together. Just...not together anymore.
"We recruited Scott Lang, alias Ant-Man, during all this." Natasha speaks up now, a little more clinically. Steve hastily pushes back the thoughts about Tony and the worry about the man that was starting to overwhelm him. "But he and Clint both have families, so they took a deal with the government. T'Challa --"
Her voice wavers here and Steve picks up the thread.
"King T'Challa lost his father during the summit about the Accords. He ended up part of the fight as well as that kid Tony found."
"Spider-Man." Bruce nods. Steve can almost see the gears turning.
The door suddenly opens and Steve is on edge and he knows Nat is too. Weapons are drawn immediately before they recognize Thor.
He relaxes, his eyes on the Asgardian.
"I've been eavesdropping for the past few minutes," Thor admits, his booming voice pitched low in the more confined space. "I thought I'd ask if I may simply...join you."
Steve gives him a nod in the affirmative and he watches while Nat and Bruce both rise, ushering him in. Bruce in particular seems pleased to see him, reaching out to clap the larger man on the arm.
Thor smiles fleetingly at them before he continues, far more gravely.
"Pepper is in the atrium with the general. Wong refused to come and the others..."
Thor trails off. They knew what he meant.
Steve doesn't want the uncomfortable silence to settle, so he looks between them all.
"Well, come sit, Thor. We're playing catch-up. Something tells me you've had an intense couple of years too."