Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 34: Don't Sign The Accords

*WARNING: Contains 'Captain America: Civil War' Spoilers!

We walked into the room where the rest of the Avengers were sitting – straight into an argument.

"How long is it gonna be before they lojack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Falcon was shouting at Rhodey.

"117 countries want to sign this, 117 Sam," Rhodey argued.

"How long are you gonna play both sides?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, you're pretending that this destruction has nothing to do with you," I answered, butting into their conversation. "You're just as much to blame as the rest of us, so don't pretend that you're not."

"I'm not pretending anything. We need to take responsibility!" Rhodey said.

"Hey, I'm all for taking responsibility," I said, raising my arms in a surrendering motion. "But not at the expense of people's lives!"

"I have an equation," Vision said, making us stop in our tracks and all turn to him. "Since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially."

"That's because Stark created most of them!" I argued. "I mean, even if we forget about 'the disaster that was Ultron' for a minute, Rhodey and you Vision, were both created by Stark in one way or another. Even Cap was created by a Stark!"

"That's irrelevant," Rhodey said.

"Maybe," I ignored him. "If Stark stopped doing stupid stuff, we wouldn't even have this problem."

"Be that as it may, our very strength invites challenge," Vision continued.

"We're going to have that strength whether we're controlled by the government or not. But if we sign, we won't be able to do anything about it."

As I said this, Stark walked over to the kitchen area and pulled up a picture of boy.

"That's Charles Spencer by the way. He wanted to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where? Sokovia!" he was visibly shaking. Even though I could tell where this story was going, I willed it not to be true. When you save a thousand lives, it's really difficult to examine the one life that you took. It never feels real. "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know, because we dropped a building on him when we were kicking ass!" My heart dropped. "We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game."

"If someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve said.

"Who said we're giving up?" Stark argued.

"We are if we give ourselves to the government," I answered, turning to face Stark. "I understand where you're coming from. And we do need to be responsible for our actions, but I don't think that signing these accords is the way to do that," I tried to reason.

"If we sign these, we surrender our right to choose," Steve said, looking at me. "What if the panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go?"

"What if there's somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us?" I asked, as an image of my mother popped into my head. What if I found out where she was, and the panel wouldn't let me go? What if she was in trouble and they didn't let me save her?

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later," Stark said quietly.

"We can cross that bridge when, if, we come to it," I answered.

"They'll come for me," Wanda said, speaking up for the first time. I could see the terror in her eyes as she contemplated just what the government could do to her if she didn't cooperate.

"Maybe Tony's right," Nat said. My eyes widened as I realised what she was saying. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer."

"Yeah, but when they also control the pedals and the gear stick, we have no say in what direction we're going in," I argued.

"Aren't you the woman who told the government to kiss her ass?" Falcon questioned, to which Nat was silent. It was true, when we had defeated the Winter Soldier, Nat had gone to Capitol Hill to convince the government that we knew what we were doing, and that they shouldn't have control of us. So what had changed?

"We need to win their trust back," she said, looking at me, knowing that her words would feel like a betrayal. We didn't do this job for the approval of the public, we did what we did to save lives whether they liked it or not.

"I have to go," Steve said suddenly, leaving the room. We all followed him with our eyes until he was gone, turning back to each other.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked Stark. He nodded, following me to my room and shutting the door behind himself.

"I know what you're gonna say," he started. "You think I'm an idiot and you're never going to sign the-"

"I found my mother," I cut him off. He stared at me, speechless. "Well, kind of. I found her husband, I know where they live."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, sitting on my bed.

"Because I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, and then I found out about my dad and you were the last person that I wanted to talk to,"

"So why are you telling me now?"

"I need to find her, to know exactly where she is," I said, taking a deep breath. "If we sign these accords, I'll never be able to."

"That's not true," he said.

"It is," I argued. "The government only care about things that specifically target them. If my mom is in danger and I need to save her, they'll never let me. I can't be restricted like that. I can't..."

"I won't let them stop you from finding her."

"You'll have no control. If we sign, you'll be controlled by them to," I reminded him. "Please... don't sign the accords."

We stayed in silence while he thought over what I said. I knew that I was asking a lot of him, but I had no choice, and he owed me this. After all the things he'd done, he owed me.

"I need to take responsibility," Stark said quietly. I waited for him to continue. "I have to sign."

"Tony... please," I begged again.

"You know what, this isn't just about you! This is a whole team that doesn't depend on whether or not you find your mom!" he said, lashing out. "I'm signing the accords because it's the right thing to do, I need to do this. So you can join me, or you can spend the rest of your life in the Raft!"

"Fuck you, Stark!" Tears cascaded down my face as I left the room, slamming the door as hard as I could. There was no way I'd ever sign the Sokovia Accords.

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Thank you for reading! Come back next Saturday for the next chapter!

What do you think: Is Rogue right? Or should she just shut up and sign the accords? Comment your thoughts and please vote if you liked this chapter! xx