Not Afraid To Die || "To The End" series

Sides

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have." I rolled my eyes as Rhodey spoke, closing my eyes as I leaned on Pietro's shoulder. Rhodey and Sam were arguing as Steve read the Accords. The rest of us were just sitting here suffering.

"So let's say we agree to this thing," Sam said. "How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

"A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this. A hundred and seventeen, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'"

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Vision spoke up from beside Wanda.

"I have an equation," he said. I nodded.

"Oh, this will clear it up," I 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." Steve furrowed his brow.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Actually, I think he's saying it's Tony's fault." I could practically feel the eye roll said man was giving me from across the room.

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vis clarified. "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." Rhodey looked at Sam.

"Boom." Nat spoke up, looking at Tony.

"Tony." He looked over at her. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal." I rolled my eyes.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said.

"Boy, you know me so well," Tony told him. He got up and winced, rubbing the back of his head. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache." He walked into 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?" I sighed. He put his phone in a basket and tapped it. The phone projected an image of a smiling young man. He looked down, then back up, and pretended to notice the picture for the first time.

"Oh," he said, "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." I bit my lip and looked down as Pietro rubbed my arm like he did any time someone mentioned the fallen state.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose," Tony continued. "I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." He took a pill with some coffee, then faced the rest of us. "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." I sighed.

"Tony," I said, "someone dies on your watch, you don't give up. Just look at me." He grew visibly agitated at the mention of my death.

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions," Steve said, backing me up. "This document just shifts the blames."

"I'm sorry, Steve," Rhodey said. "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-"

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change." Tony nodded.

"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 stopped manufacturing."

"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." Tony sighed.

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." Wanda spoke up for the first time.

"You're saying they'll come for me," she said. Vis looked at her.

"We would protect you."

"Maybe Tony's right," Nat said. We all looked 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 asked. I nodded and pointed at him. Nat sighed.

"I'm just...I'm reading the terrain. We have made...some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back." Tony held up a hand to stop her.

"Focus up," he said. "I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" She looked up at him.

"Oh, I want to take it back now."

"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win." I rolled my eyes as Steve looked down at his phone.

"I have to go," he said quickly. He stood up sharply and left.

"Chris," I heard. I looked up to see Natasha watching me. "What are you thinking?" I sighed, but Tony cut me off.

"She's signing," he said. I turned to look at him, dumbstruck.

"Excuse me," I said. "What the hell did you just say?" He looked at me. "Like hell you can make that decision for me." He sighed.

"Did you forget that I'm legally your father?"

"Did you forget that I'm legally not bound by anything you say? I'm over eighteen!"

"You can't possibly think that there's an alternative to signing where you wouldn't be labeled a threat." My jaw dropped as I stood up, facing him.

"Tony, I am legitimately dead. Do you really think they wouldn't see me as a threat even if I did? By all known laws of science, I shouldn't exist." I chuckled. "And even if I had considered signing, I wouldn't now." He threw his hands up.

"Yeah? And why's that" I chuckled dryly.

"If nothing else, just because you somehow think that you still have the right to try and control me! You lost that right when I found out that you had been keeping the fact that your weapons had slaughtered millions--including Pietro and Wanda's parents--to yourself." He started to respond, but I cut him off. "I don't care that you say it wasn't you. You knew from the start that Stane wanted your company, you told me so much yourself, but you didn't even try to stop him from doing whatever he wanted with it!"

"I shut it down!"

"HOW MANY DIED BEFORE YOU DID?!" I yelled. He froze, and I sighed. "I would've been fine if you had told me. But the fact that you knew your weapons had been used to bomb the county neighboring mine and didn't even think to let me know? That's not okay, Tony!" He looked at the floor. "There was a time when I was proud to call you my dad." He looked back up at me. "But now? Now I can't even call you my family." I walked out before he could say anything else, heading to no particular destination.

I just needed to physically breathe again.