"Are you watching the news? Because mommy says that's bad for you and you shouldn't,"
Wanda Maximoff couldn't help the small laugh that fell past her lips at the sweet, innocent voice of the four and a half year old in the doorway. Steve Rogers sat on the girl's bed beside her, smiling as little Aurora Motter ran into the room, climbing into Wanda's arms. The older girl relaxing, hugging the girl close as she rested her head on top of the little girl's.
"Hi Uncle Steve,"
"Hi little soldier," Steve chuckled back, pinching the little girl on the cheek as she giggled.
"She might be young, but she's not wrong," Audelia's voice carried through the room as the pair looked up, seeing her leaning against the door frame. She sent Wanda a kind smile, one she hoped was comforting. "We might be heroes, but we are only human. Mistakes will happen."
"This mistake cost lives," Wanda mumbled, playing with little Aurora's hair.
"This job . . . we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time . . . maybe nobody gets saved,"
Steve looked up at Audelia after speaking, getting an encouraging smile back from his friend just as Vision phased through the wall, starling everyone in the room except for Aurora, who only laughed.
"Vis! We talked about this,"
"Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that..." Vision trailed off, waving off his after thought as he looked at Steve. "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark arrived, though I assume by the presence of Ms. Audelia and Aurora that you already know."
"Thank you. We'll be right down,"
Vision nodded, choosing to leave through the door this time as he gave a nod to Audelia on his way out. The woman motioned for Aurora to join her, picking her up and placing her on her hip as she looked back at Steve and Wanda.
"If I were you I'd hurry up...Tony invited a guest,"
"Who?"
"The Secretary of State,"
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"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. 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',"
Audelia sat at the head of the table directly across from Secretary Ross, Steve to her right and Sam to her left with the rest of the team gathered around the table. She spared a single glance back at Tony, who sat on a chair in the corner, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. She sighed, turning her attention back to Ross.
"And what term would you prefer, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha shot back.
"How about "dangerous"?" the team had nothing to say, prompting the man to continue. "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?"
The screen behind him flickered to lift, footage popping up almost instantly.
"New York,"
Flashes of the battle waged on before them, a battle that had lasted for hours and exhausted them all. Images of buildings falling, people running and screaming for their lives as Loki's onslaught continued. Deli instinctively felt the bare skin of her left hand, remembering all too well all that had transpired that day in the city.
"Washington, D.C.,"
Footage played of that day, the ships crashing into the water. Waves washed over the bridges surrounding the Triskellion as people ran for their lives, screaming before they were washed away in the flood.
"Sokovia,"
They watched the city fall once more, pieces of it crashing into the water as Deli looked away, unaware of Tony's eyes on her as he recounted the moments in which he through he had lost her.
"Lagos,"
The team could immediately tell the effect that it had on Wanda, the young woman looking away at the mere sight of the burning building, innocent people wheeled out on stretchers.
"Okay," Steve spoke, looking toward the secretary sternly as the videos ceased. "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," a large stack of papers were placed on the table before them, slowly passed around from person to person. "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."
"Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, the Avengers were formed to make this world a safer place," Audelia argued calmly, looking up at the man as Steve looked over the Accords beside her. "We are here to fight the battles that you simple can't. I believe we do our job fairly well."
"Tell me, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" the team fell silent once more as Steve passed the Accords to Deli. "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?" Rhodey asked.
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," Steve looked at Deli, raising his eyebrows in question. She only shook her head, having no prior knowledge of any of this. They both looked to Tony, who avoided their looks. "Talk it over."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asked as Ross was almost out the door of the conference room.
"Then you retire,"
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"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?"
"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?"
Audelia sighed, sitting on one of the bar-stools of the kitchen, just staring down into her coffee that Tony had placed before her. She looked up at the man before her, the man she loved with all her heart, and she could tell something was wrong with him.
"You didn't tell me about any of this," she calmly said, ignoring the arguing happened right beside them, just a few feet away. "About Ross, the Accords, that entire meeting. We're supposed to tell each other everything, that's how a relationship works, Tone."
Tony sighed, playing with the ring box in his pocket before shaking his head, going back to making his own coffee as the fighting continued.
"Ross called me, not you. Figured I'd just keep it under wraps until the meeting, it's not that big a deal, Dell,"
"Ross wants us to sign all of our rights away, that is a big deal. Tony, you haven't been the same since that day at MIT-"
"I have an equation,"
All side conversations and arguing stopped as Vision spoke up. Rhodey let out an eyeroll at the comment as Vision looked around at the team before him.
"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?" Audelia interjected.
"I'm saying there may be a causality. 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."
"Tony," Natasha spoke after a moment, casting a glance at the man. "You're being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal."
"That's because he's made up his mind," Steve and Deli spoke at the same time.
Tony laughed, taking the coffee pot over to the sink and letting it fill with water. He turned, pointing to the pair for a second.
"These two really know me so well, sometimes I think I'm dating them both. Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. 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?" Tony walked back over to the counter in front of Audelia, flipping his phone up as a hologram hovered above, showing an image that Audelia remembered all too well, bringing a sigh to her lips. "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."
The team paused for a moment as Tony continued his rant, the comment effecting them all.
"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.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," Steve sighed, shaking his head. "Someone dies on your watch you don't give up."
"Who said we're giving up?"
"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames,"
"I'm sorry. Steve. That - that is dangerously arrogant," Rhodey interjected with a laugh. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA."
"Rhodey, there is one thing they all have in common. They're run by people with agendas, and those agendas change," Deli spoke, holding a hand up to silence Tony at the look of betrayal in his eyes. "I'm not picking sides right now, I won't. The Sokovia Accords are far from perfect, there's too many loopholes and too many errors within it for me to fully support it. We were created to fight the fights that the people can't, giving the UN that type of control won't solve anything. But...it is more important that this team stays together. We have made mistakes, and the public doesn't trust us. We can't protect the people if the people hate us. These Accords aren't perfect, but if we sign them together as a team, then we can amend them down the road. We...we just have to stay together."
"But agendas are good," Tony argued back, looking to Deli. "That's why I'm here, that's why we're here Dell. When we realized what our weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, we shut it down and stop manufacturing."
"Yes, Tony, but it was our choice to do that,"
"If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose," Steve interjected once more. "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."
"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 spoke as Wanda looked up at the team and spoke up for the first time.
"You're saying they'd come for me,"
"We would protect you," Vision spoke, lending her a comforting hand.
"Maybe Tony has a point," All eyes shifted to Natasha as she chose her words carefully. "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 sneered as Natasha held up a hand.
"I'm just . . . I'm reading the terrain. I'm on Deli's side here, there's not black and white, no yes or no, there's reasons to sign and reasons not to sign. We have made . . . some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."
"We have to stay together, we need to have each other's backs," Deli spoke, standing as she slipped her hand into Tony's, giving him a small smile as she faced the team while Steve took out his phone as it went off. "We said it back during Ultron, and we'll continue to say it. We do this together. The Accords aren't ideal, I don't agree with them, but we have to stay together. Ammendments can be made-"
"I have to go,"
Steve's comment interjected into Audelia's speech as he abruptly stood up, stalking out of the room. Sam muttered about where he was going as Deli let go of Tony's hand, moving to her phone which was buzzing on the table.
"Dell?" Tony questioned, turning around to look at the sad look in her eyes as his heart dropped. "What is it?"
"I think I know why Steve left..." she trailed up, swallowing the lump in her throat as she looked at Tony. "I think I need to call my dad."
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As you can tell, Audelia is very 50/50 on this. She doesn't think they need to be put in their place and doesn't think the UN should have any say in what they do, but she also understands that the public doesn't trust them because of their mistakes and that it's best that the team stays together more than anything, that it can be amended.
What side do you think Deli will take?