ALL THE AVENGERS were inside a small conference room with secretary of state, who was explaining a story that i didn't quite understand.
"five years ago, i had a heart attack.. and dropped right in the middle of my backswing. turned out it was the best round of my life, because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass. i found something forty years in the army never taught me. perspective." he explained and we all observed and listened quietly.
'the world owes the avengers an unplayable 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".' he said but i noticed after he said the word vigilantes he looked at wanda.
pietro noticed too because he squeezed my hand and i saw his eyes go from wanda to mr. secretary.
"and what word would you use, mr. secretary?" nat asked.
'how about "dangerous"?' he replied without any thought to the question.
"what would you call a group of us-based, enhanced and mutant individuals, who routinely ignore sovereign borders, and inflict their will wherever they choose, and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"
none of us responded and the secretary of state stepped aside so he could present a video to us.
"new york."
a video of the chitauri, people screaming and running, the hulk jumping from buildings and making a mess played.
rhodey looked down at the table and looked at steve and natasha in disgust and guilt.
"washington, d.c."
a ship flying into the water, people drowning and screaming. sam looked down at the table this time.
"sokovia."
a video of half of sokovia flying into the air, buildings falling, people crying and screaming.
i rubbed pietro's hand with my thumb. these videos were guilt tripping us, we can't save everyone.
"lagos."
a video of the south side of the building being on fire, bodies being dragged out of the building, and a deceased woman looking at the camera with dust all over her, sirens blaring in the backround.
that one was the hardest to watch.
"okay, that's enough." steve said after he just watched wanda's expression.
"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. 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 explained calmly.
"tell me, captain, do you know where thor and banner are right now?"
steve looked up at him and he continued, "if i misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes you can bet there'd be consequences. compromise. reassurance. that's how the world works. believe me, this is the middle ground."
rhodey gestured to the accords, "so, there are contingencies."
"three days from now, the un meets in vienna to ratify the accords. talk it over."
steve looked back at tony. tony just had his head down.
"and if we come to a decision you don't like?" natasha asked hypothetically.
"then you retire."
we were all sitting in the living room chatting about the accords. i was reading it listening to all the arguing going on beside me.
i found a page that made me shocked.
WEAPON X:
classified us government project intended to deliberately induce superpowers for military purposes. test subjects intended to be mutants like alice everfalls, including any other mutant vigilantes the us can identify. the project captures mutants and experiments on them to enhance their superpowers/abilities to another level for the military.
"pietro look at this." i told him and handed him the accords.
"oh my god, they're gonna experiment on you? no, no. i'm not gonna let them do that." pietro said angrily.
i handed it to steve for him to read. "secretary ross has a congressional medal of honor which is one more than you have." rhodey pointed at sam.
"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?"
"177 countries want to sign this. 117, sam, and you're just like 'no, that's cool, we got it'."
"how long are you gonna play both sides?" sam asked.
"i have an equation." vision announced. "oh, this will clear it up." sam said.
"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." vision explained.
"are you saying it's our fault?" steve assumed what vision was saying.
"i'm saying there may be a causality." he paused, "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."
"boom." rhodey added and looked at sam.
"tony. you are being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal." natasha said while tilting her head at him.
"it's because he's already made up his mind." i said while standing behind cap's chair.
"ugh, you know me so well. actually, i'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. that's what's going on. it's just pain." tony exclaimed while walking over to the kitchen sink grabbing a coffee cup. "it's discomfort."
"who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?" he asked and slammed his hand on the counter. "am i running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" he grabbed a french press and put his phone into the fruit basket.
a projection of a young man smiling appeared.
"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 wanna 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."
we all looked guilty as ever. "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."
tony wiped his mouth and took a sip of his coffee. "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."
steve spoke up and everyone's attention went to him. "tony, someone died on your watch, you don't give up."
"who says we're giving up?" tony asked.
"we are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. this document just shifts the blame-." steve said.
"i'm sorry, steve. that- that is dangerously arrogant. this is the united nations we're talking about. it's not world security council. it's not shield, it's not hydra." rhodey interrupted and steve shook his head.
"no, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change."
"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 said most likely referring to the bombs that almost killed two avengers sitting in the room.
"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."
i'm so sick of the arguing i wish this never happened. i stopped listening until wanda said, "you're saying they'll come for me?". i assume they would take pietro too.
"we would protect you." vision said calmly and the two looked at each other. i looked over at pietro and he was giving vision a mean glare.
"maybe tony's right. if we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. if we take it off-" natasha started to say something but sam interrupted her.
"aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" sam said while crossing his arms and leaning in.
"i'm just reading the terrain. we have made some very public mistakes, we need to win their trust back."
nat is basically my mother. my mother who was agreeing to a document that wants to experiment on me. i couldn't believe what i was hearing.
"focus up. i'm sorry, did i just mishear you.. or did you agree with me?" tony asked while putting his arms on a chair.
"oh i want to take it back now."
"no, no you can't retract it. thank you. unprecedented. okay. case closed. i win." tony exclaimed.
"i have to go." steve said after reading a message on his phone. after he excused himself so did i. and pietro followed me.