twenty four.
『 IMAGES OF THE PAST 』
The day seemed grayer, a foreboding feeling creeping upon everyone in the compound. A day of loss had passed for countries around the world, guilt pulling at the bottom of each of the heroes hearts. When people mourn tragedy it can be felt all around the world, but today it feels that the center of guilt is the Avengers Compound. Hearts lie heavy, and despite responsibilities, Hallie doesn't have the urge to drag herself out of bed, or out of her room. And despite the fact that she can hear the sound of the TV giving a report on what happened, she can't bare to look at it, knowing the footage that she would see displayed across it.
"It was just an accident," Harley reassured his sister lightly. "They aren't telling it how it is. If it hadn't been for Wanda hundreds, possibly thousands more would be dead to a suicide bomber." His face glitched slightly on the computer screen she had open, the blue light shining on her face after she'd answered his call only moments before.
Just an accident. She knew that part to be true. And what he said was true. But not in the eyes of the public. For everyone else, fifteen lives were lost and it was the Avenger's fault. Their fault. Her fault.
"It's not as simple as that, Harley." Hallie said, shaking her head. "That's not what they see. People died. That's what they see."
"That shouldn't be━"
"Things don't always work out the way they're supposed to." Hallie reminded. "It might not be what we intended. But we have to take responsibility for our actions."
"And how are you going to do that? What are they going to do? Lock away superheroes for just trying to protect people?" Harley asked desperately, trying to get her to see his side of things. Of what happened, but no one would see his side.
Hallie opened her mouth to answer, when someone knocked on the door and she looked up, seeing a face already peeking in. "They are calling a meeting in the conference room." Pietro told her. "Stark's here. And he's brought a friend," his nose scrunched in disgust as he says the word friend, clearly distasteful of whoever it is Tony brought.
"Thanks," Hallie acknowledged, watching him move out of the room, she turned back to her computer screen. "Looks like we're about to find out."
She went to close the computer, when Harley's voice stopped her. "Hal," she hummed in response, tilting it open a fraction so she could see the worried gaze in his eyes. "It's not your fault. Nor is it Wanda's."
Hallie nodded, "Good bye, Harley." Before she closed the computer screen.
"Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass . . . I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective." Secretary Ross tells them, the Avengers, broken and the few that are still on Earth sitting around the table. "The world owes the Avengers an un-payable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. . . but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some. . . who would prefer the word "vigilantes"."
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha questioned politely, without a beat of hesitance.
"How about "dangerous"?" He suggested to the room for all to hear, and Hallie knew it was true. They were dangerous. But only to those that nodded to be stopped. Not to the citizens of Earth who just wanted to live their lives peacefully. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"
Ross activates a screen behind him, and Hallie glances back, meeting Tony's eyes. He looks down, almost guilty and Hallie looks back, a sickening feeling in her stomach as news footage from past Avengers and SHIELD matters flash on the screen as he speaks.
"New York."
A Chitauri leviathan. Terrified citizens. A soldier firing a gun. The Hulk smashes into a building and sends a dust cloud to engulf the camera. Rhodey looks regretful. He glances behind him at Natasha who meets his eyes, though her own don't give anything away.
Hallie had seen this footage from this perspective a thousand times. There were news channels against the Avengers that she'd find Harley watching and criticizing weeks after the Battle of New York. But she'd also seen the outcome, and thankful citizens. Thankful for the Avengers because they were alive. And it was all due to them.
"Washington DC."
The three Insight helicarriers, firing on each other. The destroyed Triskelion. A helicarrier crashing into the Potomac and throwing up a massive wave, engulfing citizens and the camera.
"Sokovia."
If there was one thing he was right about, it was perspective. Hallie had never watched the riding of Sokovia, it made her to sick to think about. She figured with a frayed end of her sweater, looking down.
"Lagos."
The burning building. Paramedics moving a body. A dead girl.
It is finally now that Wanda looks down, guilt shining in her eyes. Hallie glances back to her, seeing Pietro who sat behind Wanda place a hand on her arm as a form of comfort.
Having seen enough, Steve intervened noticing the look on Wanda's face. "Okay. That's enough." Secretary Ross nods to an aide and the images disappear.
"For the past four years, 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." he places a thick document on the desk and passes it to Hallie, who doesn't pick it up, but instead stares at it, before raising a hand and sliding it to Rhodey who looked ready to read through all of it.
"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."
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve states.
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Steve looks up and meets Ross's eyes as Ross continues, "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."
"So, there are contingencies."
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Secretary Ross says. "Talk it over."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asks.
"Then you retire." He answers.
Hallie can feel the tension brewing. This morning had been filled with guilt and now the day has turned to tension, all because of one man. Or, 117 countries giving them a choice. The file is heavy in her lap, feels like a million bricks. She wonders how long they've been working on this, and now they are only introducing it to them. After Sokovia? Or before and they only named it after Sokovia, the power of three, enhanced individuals now coming into play and they though it was finally time to bring it out.
Hallie doesn't want to look through it, so instead of sets it on the coffee table before her, feeling the resolve around the room. People have already chosen, and next to her Tony had already chosen. And she knows exactly what he chose. And she can feel the resolve settling within her own mind.
"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have."
"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 questions Rhodey, the only two who seem to be arguing. Rhodey's choice didn't come as a surprise, nor did Sam's.
"A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, "No, that's cool. We got it.""
"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam questions him.
"I have an equation." Vision interrupted.
"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam stated sarcastically.
"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, and Hallie looked down.
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.
"'m saying there may be a causality." Vision corrected. "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 states.
"Boom."
"Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal." Natasha observes as he moves his hand away from his face to look at her.
"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve says.
"Boy, you know me so well." Tony quips, before rolling off the couch and wincing, rubbing the back of his head and Hallie feels the vision of the couch rise without the weight, glancing down at the spot he'd once sat at. "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 puts his phone in a basket and taps it. The phone projects an image of a smiling young man. He looks down, then back up, and pretends to notice the picture for the first time and Hallie examines the image of the young man she had never seen before, knowing it'll have to do with the argument he was going to come up with for the decision he'd made. The one that many in the room wouldn't agree with.
"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." He says, sounding almost annoyed and Hallie looks at the smiling boy in the picture, guilt weighing on her chest. "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.
"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, sounding disappointed.
"It's not giving up," Hallie speaks up for the first time, not looking around at anyone, already knowing she'd be met with disappointment.
"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions." Steve argues. "This document just shifts the blame."
"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."
"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change." Steve argues.
"That's good." Tony insists. "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, 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."
"We won't be able to do anything if we don't play it on their terms first." Hallie says. "It's not like if we don't agree to sign that we can still operate by ourselves."
"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 added.
"You're saying they'll come for me."
"They wouldn't." Pietro speaks up.
"We would protect you." Vision adds.
Natasha speaks up, adding her own input. "Maybe Tony's right." Everyone looks at her in shock, Steve's own face falling. "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 asks incredulously.
"I'm just. . . I'm reading the terrain." Natasha offers. 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?"
"Oh, I want to take it back now."
"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win."
Hallie sighs, rubbing her head and only looking up when she hears Steve's phone buzz. He looks at it, face falling before announcing, "I have to go." Tossing the file onto the table and everyone turned to watch him leave.
( a / n ) : im back! i had serious writers block before this and low motivation but now that im on summer break i hope to update more.