*WARNING: Contains 'Captain America: Civil War' Spoilers!
"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt," Thaddeus Ross began. "But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some that prefer the word, vigilantes."
"And what word would you use, Mr Secretary?" Nat asked.
"How about dangerous?" he replied. "What would you call a group of US based, enhanced individuals who inflict their will wherever they choose and seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"
"Unconcerned?" I accidentally spoke aloud, remembering Wanda's face when she realised the destruction that she'd caused. There was no way anyone could call her unconcerned.
"Rogue," Steve warned me quietly. Against my better judgement, I backed down.
Ross ignored this exchange, instead pulling a video up on the screen.
"New York." He showed footage from the Avenger's battle against Loki and the Chitauri.
'Not my fault' I thought. 'I wasn't even an Avenger then!'
"Washington, D.C." Cue another video of innocent people losing their lives.
'A little my fault... but mainly HYDRA's fault!'
"Sokovia." Another video.
'Again, a little my fault... but mostly Stark and Banner's fault!' I looked over and glared at my ex-boyfriend. Why were we all around the table and he got to sit away from us... like he wasn't even a part of the Avengers anymore? As if he didn't fight all of these battles with us... as if he had nothing to do with us.
"Lagos."
'OK, this one was basically all my fault. Mine and Rumlow's, but mostly mine.' I noticed Wanda avert her eyes from the screen and the guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd never forgive myself for being the reason that she was even in Lagos in the first place.
"For the past few years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision," Ross continued. "That's an arrangement that the governments of the world can no longer tolerate."
"But it's not about the government," I said before I could stop myself.
"Rogue," Steve warned again. I raised my eyebrows at him.
"You think we should let a group of trained killers loose in the world?" Ross asked me. "You think you should be able to kill with no consequences?"
"You say that like we're criminals!" I argued. We were not criminals.
"A group that kills whoever gets in their way – what would you call it?"
"Our intentions are always good." I tried to reason with him. "We make mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. HYDRA was hiding behind SHIELD and the government never noticed! And Loki would have come to take over the world whether the Avengers were here or not – he wanted the Tesseract, not a grudge match!" I reminded him. "In the long run, everything we've done has helped to save millions of lives with no help from the government, and I think it should stay that way."
"This isn't just about you," he said, looking at the other Avengers around the table. "But we have a solution," he said, placing what looked like a book on the table in front of Wanda. The title read 'SOKOVIA ACCORDS'. "Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organisation."
Wanda slid the document over to me and I immediately dismissed it, shoving it in the general direction of Rhodey. After all the things that I had gone through, there was a lot that made me distrust the government.
"Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nation's panel."
"Not happening!" I said under my breath.
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," Steve said, before being cut off by Ross.
"Can you tell me, Captain, where Thor and Banner are right now?"
"Why does that matter?" I asked with a shaky laugh. "I mean, let's think about this realistically, even if Thor and Banner would agree to this, Thor isn't from Earth, so you'd stop him from helping us. And we don't even know what Banner is, how do we know you won't lock him up?"
"I give you my word-" Ross began.
"Say whatever you want, I'm never going to believe a word you say," I told him truthfully.
"Three days from now..." he was ignoring me again. "The UN meets in Vienna to ratify the accords."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Nat asked.
"Then you retire."
"How are you gonna make us do that?" I asked with a smirk, taunting him slightly.
"I can guarantee that there will be a room at the Raft with your name on it," he said, making it sound like a hotel. The Raft is an ultra-maximum-security prison specially designed to hold enhanced people. Us.
"A room? Or a cell?"
"You know what it's like to be experimented on, right?" he asked softly.
"Is that a threat?" I asked angrily.
"That's enough!" Steve said, standing up. Ross turned away from us slowly, slamming the door behind him as he left. There was a defined silence as the rest of the team began to get up and also leave the room. Soon, it was just me, Wanda (who had yet to get up or move in any way), Steve and Stark.
"They can't make us sign it," I said, more to myself than to anyone else.
"They shouldn't have to make us," Stark said. Steve turned to him.
"Obviously you've already made up your mind," he muttered.
"I think it's a no-brainer. If we want to stop Lagos from happening again, we need restrictions. We can't let Maximoff loose on the world!"
At this point, Wanda stood up and rushed from the room.
"You're an idiot," I said to Stark.
"I'm trying to protect you!" he said angrily.
"I don't need your protection!" I argued back. It angered me that he was using Wanda as a reason to punish the whole team, as a reason to stop us from doing our jobs. This wasn't her fault.
"Look Cap, logically this makes sense. Think about it, we'll be saving the world without hurting anyone in the process. It's a win-win!" Stark said, trying to pull Steve onto his side.
"And what about when we do something that they don't like?" I asked. "They'll lock us up, torture us. He already threatened me!"
Steve picked up the accords from the table and walked towards the door. As Stark and I looked into each other's eyes, I could feel the same question bouncing back and forth between us. Whose side was he on?
"Let's talk to the team."
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Thank you for reading!
So, will Stark convince everyone to sign the accords? Will Rogue convince everyone not to? Find out next Saturday!
Whose side are you on, Rogue's or Stark's? Vote and tell me in the comments! xx