A/N: Hey guys! Yes, the next chapter is out THE NEXT DAY!!! YAY ME! (I'm trying to make up for leaving you guys for seven weeks.) Anyways, I'm not taking much credit for this chapter, almost all of it was is scenes from Civil War, as the Civil War chapters are now beginning. I don't own anything you guys recognize. Even though this chapter is basically just a couple of scenes from Civil War and is only five pages, it really sets a base for the story. Anways, enjoy!
- Harper E. Pierce
Eight months later...
All life had gone smoothly so far with the Avengers. Lexi had finally told everyone what she'd been doing for them, which went well although most of the girls yelled at her for taking on everyone else's problems. Wanda, Steve and Bucky had been doing extra training with her to help fix her problem, and she was finally able to store the taken pain and emotions somewhere else. She was able to control how much pain she took out and gave away. Her brooding hadn't changed much, and she still wasn't completely opening up to her therapist about her problems, but she'd still progressed, which was much better than before. Although she was still having some issues with properly storing it.
Raven had managed to keep up her lie to her Damon for the last eight months, and she felt guilty about it, but she couldn't tell him yet. She didn't know how he'd react and she just wasn't ready to find out. None of the Avengers knew about her boyfriend and neither did any of the girls.
Bucky had taken off to god knows where a few months ago, saying he needed to get away, and no one had seen him. Steve had been trying to track him down, and was so far unsuccessful.
But one day, Steve called for a meeting in the conference room upstairs. That usually was either a really good sign or really bad one, and something told the girls that it wasn't a good one. And man, were they right.
Tris, Tori, Lorelei, Quinn, Skylar, Lexi and Raven all walked upstairs to the conference room, seeing secretary Ross standing inside the glass room with everyone in the tower, except Clint, who retired. This was definitely NOT good.
"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 had never taught me. Perspective," Ross went on once the girls got inside and sat down, "the world owes the Avengers an unpayable 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 asked the man with a little sass.
"How about 'dangerous'? 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 shot back at Natasha, and began to show proof.
"New York," he pointed out, using the screen to show footage of the damage done four years ago. "Washington, D.C," he continued, "Sokovia," he went on, "Lagos," he said again, before Steve cut him off.
"Okay. That's enough."
"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," someone in the back handed Ross a book, "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by a hundred and seventeen 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 disagreed with Ross.
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where are Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross retorted. Steve looked up at him. "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," Tony's friend, James Rhodes or "War Machine", said.
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the accords. Talk it over." Ross ordered them.
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asked him, once again with much sass.
"Then you retire." Ross finished, finally walking out of the room. The girls couldn't believe what they had just heard. They all left the room for the next hour to think things over about the meeting privately and agreed to come back to the main area in the next hour.
-
"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honour, which is one more than you have." Rhodes argued with Sam. The whole team had met back up in the room, and everyone had almost made an opinion.
"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 shot back.
"A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this. A hundred and seventeen, Sam, and you're just like 'No, that's cool, we got it.'"
"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam began to talk over the man, but Vision stepped in.
"I have an equation," he said.
"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam added.
"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."
"Are you saying it's our fault?"
"It pretty much is," Tris answered, agreeing with Vision. Quinn looked disgusted with her.
"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision 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." Rhodes and Tris said simultaneously.
"You're seriously agreeing with this?" Quinn looked at the scientist.
"Of course I am, you've seen the damage that's been done, we haven't cared to clean up our messes." Tris argued.
"At the price of more saving lives than being careful. Buildings can be repaired, death can't." Lexi agreed with Quinn.
"Ah, but the mortality rate in the world has also gone up since Tony Stark announced himself as Iron Man." Vision disagreed.
"It'd be higher if we weren't helping the governments kick ass," Quinn retorted.
"Tony." Natasha suddenly spoke up to the man on the couch with his hand to his head. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."
"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve chimed in.
"Boy, you know me so well," he stood up to go to the kitchen, "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache."
"Ouch, I hate those." Skylar chirped.
"That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort," he paused, "who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?!"
"Oh, you're not supposed to do that?" Tori asked dumbly. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"
"Yes." Lorelei, Lexi and Quinn replied simultaneously, as Tony pulled up a file on his phone and turned it into a hologram for everyone to see. He was just a boy, with dark skin, bright eyes and big smile on his face.
"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid, computer engineering degree, three point six 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," Tony paused on his speech, "he wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass," he 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."
"Tony, if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve argued.
"Who said we're giving up?" Skylar and Tony said together.
"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame,"
"He's right, Tony. What will happen is that the UN will never let us help what needs to be helped when it needs to be helped. More lives will be lost due to the world-ending events that will keep on throwing themselves here, especially if we can't call the shots. We decide when to help, because the government is going to screw us over, and they will be to blame. That's not heroism, that's our ignorance if we sign those accords." Quinn stated smartly.
"I'm sorry, Steve, Quinn, that's 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."
"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."
"Yes, but that was your choice, Tony." Tori argued.
"If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose." Steve added. "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 don't let us? 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. That's the fact. That won't be pretty."
"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda chimed in, "for all of them too." She gestured to the girls.
"We would protect all of you," Vision rebutted her comment.
"No, you would protect us if we agree, and some of us don't," Lexi argued.
"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha suddenly jumped in. Everyone turned to her in shock.
"You are the last person I'd expect to agree to this," Lorelei said in shock.
"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 asked with a concerned expression on his face.
"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. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony snarked.
"I want to take it back now."
"No, you can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented."
"I agree with Nat and Tony. The mistakes we've made need to be amended, and we need their trust back, otherwise we won't be seen as heroes, but as vigilantes." Skylar made her opinion clear.
"Like that's a good plan," Quinn argued, "like I said, the government's going to screw us over."
"Actually, it is." Tris shot back. "Raven, you've been quiet too, thoughts?"
"I'm not happy with either decision. We need to be put in check, but this is not the way to do it. So I'm not going to sit here and argue with two things that are right but are being dealt in terrible ways." She ranted, and left the room.
"Well that was different." Rhodey commented.
"Okay. Case closed. I win." Tony announced. Steve looked at his phone for a quick minute and his face suddenly darkened.
"I have to go." He said, briskly walking out of the room. After that, they all left the room to continue to daily plans, some of them grumbling about the decision on the accords.