A Month Later.
"11 wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred".
"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil" King T'Chaka says, the press conference airing him "Not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those who pledge to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent, is no victory at all".
Steve shut off the TV and sighed. He furrowed his brows slightly once he heard the sound of another news channel playing down the hallway.
Nadia sits on her bed watching the news throughly list their opinions on her. The guilt from what happened stung her heart continuously.
'What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Nadia Maximoff have, to operate in Nigeri-"
The TV is suddenly turned off. Steve puts the remote down and leans against her doorframe.
Nadia looked down "It's my fault."
"That's not true".
"Turn the TV back on. They're being very specific" Nadia says, turning to look at him with sadness.
"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it. Rumlow said 'Bucky' and...suddenly I was a sixteen year old kid again in Brooklyn" Steve says, walking over to her and sitting down beside her "And people died...it's on me".
Nadia shakes her head slightly "It's on both of us" Turning her gaze to look straight ahead of her "Though you shouldn't blame yourself at all".
"And neither should you" Steve quips back.
The young girl shakes her head "No, what happened was my fault. What you did, I won't blame you. Bucky is your best friend, and you've been looking for him for almost three years. If I was in your position, I would've reacted the same way; probably worse".
Steve sighs "This job...we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody" He turned to look at her "But if we can't find a way to live with that, the next time...maybe nobody gets saved".
Nadia stares at her mentor's expression, tears building up in her eyes "I'm sorry, Steve.."
"Dee..." Steve mumbled, pulling her in and resting her head on his shoulder while resting his arm over her.
They stay like that for a while, Nadia trying to hold back her tears on Steve's shoulder, and him trying to sooth her.
Their small moment was then cut to an end when Vision walks through the wall and into Nadia's room.
Nadia sighed, wiping her tears "Vis, we talked about this".
"Yes but the door was opened so I assumed that.." Vision tries to explain, but gives up "Captain Rogers wished to know Mr.Stark was arriving".
Steve sighs and nods "Thank you, we'll be right down". Vision nods "I'll..use the door."
"Oh" Vision stopped and turned back around "And apparently he's brought a guest".
"We know who it is?".
"The Secretary of State" Vision replies before leaving.
Steve internally curses. He turned to meet eyes again with Nadia, fear evident in her eyes.
....
"Five years ago I had a heart attack and dropped, right in the middle of my backswing" Secretary Ross says to the avengers, who were all sitting at a long table "Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass...I found something fourth years in the army never taught me; perspective".
"The world owes the avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. But while a great many see you as heroes, some would prefer the word 'vigilantes".
"And why word would you use Mr.Secretary?" Natasha asked.
"How about 'dangerous'?" He replied "What would you call a group of U.S based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will whenever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind".
"Not like the military are any different-"
"-Nadia" Steve cut her off, his voice giving the same warning tone as his expression. She pursed her lips and sighed, leaning back in her chair.
Secretary Ross stares at the young girl for a second before continuing, walking to the side and motioning toward the large screen in front of them "New York."
Video footage of the battle of New York begins to play on the screen. The person recording moved the camera to the roaring hulk climbing up a building. He jumps off to attack another Chitari, but his strength causes some of the building to break off. And before the person recording could realize, a large piece of the building falls and crushes him.
Rhodey closed his eyes, him and the others finding the video hard to watch.
"Washington D.C" The Secretary said, starting another video to play on the screen. The video shows the helicarriers being destroyed and falling. The person recording tried to run but the impact of the last helicarrier crashing down into the river sent the person and people around it to perish.
"Sokovia".
Another video beings to play. The familiar destroyed and dust-filled flying city made Nadia stiffen slightly. Buildings falling and crashing, people slipping and being thrown off the floating rock, and falling to their deaths.
"Lagos" The secretary began to play the last clip of the bombed building. People screaming and covered with dust, firefighters running and trying to put out the fire. The last frame being a dead woman laying on the floor, her dead eyes staring right through the camera recording.
The overflowing guilt made Nadia slightly queasy as she flinched and looked away, not being able to look at it anymore.
Steve notices her reaction and huffs "Okay, that's enough".
Secretary Ross signals the guard to stop the video, before turning back to look at the avengers "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 picks up a thick white book and slides it toward Nadia first "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 seems it necessary".
Nadia scanned the book, conflicted by it then passed across it to Rhodey.
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place, I feel like we've done that" Steve states.
"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Secretary Ross replies, walking up to Steve "If I misplaced a couple of thirty-megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences".
"Thor and Bruce weren't weapons, they were people. They are allowed to have the same amount of free-will as everyone else" Nadia stated strongly.
Secretary Ross chuckled lightly before walking toward her "Thor is a fifteen-hundred year old norse-god and Bruce is two people put into one body, one of the said persons can lift up a building. If I were you I would be terrified knowing that I have no idea how powerful beings like them are located".
Nadia wanted to bark back but held back and continued to give the man a cold look.
Ross walks back the front of the room "Compromise. Reassurance; that's how the world works. Believe me, this is middle ground".
"So, there are contingencies" Rhodey asks.
"Three days from now the U.N meets in Vienna to ratify the accords. Talk it over" The Secretary replies, beginning to walk out the room.
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha slightly challenging him.
He stopped "Then you retire".
....
After Secretary Ross left, the tension between the team didn't lessen. They were all sitting together and discussing what they should do.
"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have" Rhodey argues back at Sam.
"So let's just say we agree to this thing, how long is it going to be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam quips back, his voice nothing but serious.
"117 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 side-".
"-I have an equation" Vision, who was sitting next to a quiet Nadia, cuts in.
"Oh, this will clear it up" Sam says sarcastically.
Vision sits up a bit straighter "In the eight years since Mr.Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate".
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked him, holdings the Accords and reading through it.
"I'm saying there may be a causality" Vision explains "Our very strength invites challenge, challenge insights conflicts, and conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand".
Rhodey turns to Sam and gives him a look "Boom".
Natasha looked up to see Tony lounging in his seat, his hand over his face. She scans his form before talking for the first time in the past half hour "Tony, your being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal".
"That's because he's already made up his mind" Steve says, looking at him.
Tony groaned "Boy you know me so well".
He stands up and sighs, walking to the kitchen "Actually I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on Cap, it's just pain, it's discomfort"
Tony grabbed a coffee cup then looks in the sink "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?" He grumbled "Am I running a bed and breakfast for biker gang?".
He stays silent for a second before putting a device down and tapping the screen, a hologram picture of a dark-skinned man smiling appearing.
Tony clears his throat "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".
He poured the coffee into his cup "Charles 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 like fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor, guess where; Sokovia".
The air in the room quickly shifted to complete silence. guilt weighing in their hearts.
"He wanted to make a difference I suppose, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.." Tony voice sounding like sarcasm, but expression was serious as stone.
He walked around the counter and crossed his arms over his chest "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, if someone dies on your watch you don't give up" Steve says.
"Who says we're giving up?"
"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions, this document just shifts the blame".
"I'm sorry Steve, that-" Rhodey scoffs "-that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's SHIELD, It's not HYDRA-"
"-No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change".
"Steve's right" Nadia spoke up "He's seen it happen. Me, Sam, Nat- We've all seen what the government can do with people like us" She pauses, remembering her life as a test subject for HYDRA "-If we start being 'monitored' by them, a lot more people could die. Like Steve said; we know that their agendas will change, that's how all organizations with power work. If we sign we become their bitch, they'll use that as an advantage"
"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 says.
"Tony, you chose to do that" Steve replies, frustrated "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's somewhere we need to go, and they won't let us?".
Steve shook his head "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" Tony says lowly "That's the fact. That won't be pretty".
Nadia's head dropped, her voice low "Meaning they'll come for me, because of what I did".
Steve shakes his head "We would protect you".
"Maybe Tony's right" Natasha speaks up "If he 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, his eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm just reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes, we need to win their trust back".
"Focus up, I'm sorry-" Tony cuts in, leaning forward "-Did-Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?".
Natasha cringes "Oh I want to take it back now".
"No no no, you can't retract it. Thank you".
Steve's phone buzzed in his pants. Taking it out, he reads the message he received only to have his heart drop.
'She's gone, in her sleep'
He swallowed, his voice suddenly dropping "I have to go".
The rest of the team watch him quickly get up out of his seat and leave the room.
——
honestly this was probably one of my favorite parts in the movie.
genuinely when i first watched it I was starting to side with team Iron Man because of what Vision said but then I realized what Steve said was true. To me both sides honestly have good points but the government sucks.
team revenges <3