Iron Love - Tony Stark X Reader

Chapter 28 - The Accords

"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam points.

"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."

Steve looks up, "Are you saying it's our fault?"

"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." Vision nods.

"Boom." Rhodes points.

I look down to see Tony is lying on the couch, one hand over his face. When Natasha speaks, he removes 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 says.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony rolls his eyes and gets up he winces, rubbing the back of his head. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. He walks to the kitchen and grabs 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?" He raises his voice. He puts his phone in a basket and taps it.The phone projects an image of a smiling young man, the one from the picture I saw. He looks down, then back up, and pretends 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. 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."

"Tony..." I walk over to him.

"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." He takes a pill with some coffee, then faces the others, walking away from me. "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."

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve says.

"Who said we're giving up?" I add, grabbing a cold washcloth and walking over to Tony, I hold it on his forehead and cover his eyes.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames." Steve says.

"I'm sorry. Steve.....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." I raise my voice, making Tony wince. "Sorry." I whisper to him.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change." Steve argues.

"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 lifts up the washcloth to look at Steve.

Steve shakes his head. "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." Tony looks up at me and slightly smiles.

Wanda leans forward, "You're saying they'll come for me."

"We would protect you." Vision nods.

"Maybe Tony's right." Nat says from beside me. Tony looks at her, surprised. "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 crosses his arms.

"I'm just....I'm reading the terrain. We have made....some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

"Focus up. I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony asks, shocked.

"Oh, I want to take it back now." She shakes her head.

"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win." Tony stands and hands me the washcloth.

Steve's phone buzzes, and he pulls it out to check it. "I have to go." He gets up sharply, drops the Accords on the coffee table, all of us watching him leave.