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I sat cross-legged on my floor. Laser focus on my door, if looks could kill my door would be dead on the floor. I moved my hands so they were laid out, palms facing the ceiling, next to my thighs. Slowly they were enveloped in my purple magic.
My whole body was enveloped and I slowly left the ground. Fluttering my eyes shut I concentrated on everything that happened today. The fact that I almost lost myself to the dark entity in my mind. I know it sounds like some Star Wars shit but it's honestly one of the most terrifying things in my life. Well other than all the bad guys we have to fight.
Slowly I began to pick up other objects throughout my room. When the entity becomes to much for me I basically just have to concentrate on blocking it back out. Meditation is one of the ways I do it.
My eyes shot open at the sound of my phone vibrating against my bedside table. I fell to the floor with a thud, the objects falling down with me. Standing up I turned around and picked up my phone answering it without checking who was calling.
"Hello?" I asked, palm pressed against my forehead squeezing my eyes shut, to try and help with my accumulating headache.
"Hey." My eyes widened as Peter spoke.
"Hi, what's up?" I asked shutting my eyes again. This conversation better be quick, as much as it pains me to say I don't have time for this. I couldn't even tell Peter what was actually up, he'd never understand, no one does.
"Did you hear about the Lagos incident?" He asked as he what sounded like, flopped down on his bed.
"No, I uh, didn't. What happened?" I asked nonchalantly.
"Well, what appeared on the news, the Avengers accidently set off an explosion." He started. "They're saying that it's the Maximoff sisters faults." I sighed as I stared down at my now broken lamp. The news was blaming it on me and Wanda, great.
"Crap." I said put loud accidentally.
"What?" He asked. I fumbled around in my brain for a reasonable answer.
"I broke my lamp." Was what I came up with, the truth.
"How?" He asked laughing. I don't know Pete! I did it when I was levitating it up in the air with me! Stop asking questions!!
Just when I was about to answer Vis floated through my door. I screamed out, placing my hand on my chest when I realized it was him.
"What?! What's wrong?!" Peter asked frantically as he started to shuffle around quickly. It sounded kind of like he fell against his wall...
"Nothing!" I told him. "I'm fine, my sister just scared me." I grimaced slightly, I just called Vis my sister.
"Are you sure you're alright?!" He asked still frantically but he had stopped crashing into things.
"Yes, but I've got to go. I promise I'll talk to you soon, ok?"
"Oh... ok." He stuttered back to me. I hung up the phone and turned to Vis.
"I thought we had a meeting about you doing that!" I practically yelled at him as I tossed my phone on my bed.
"Yes, but Mr. Rogers wanted me to inform you that you are needed in the conference room." Vis said before turning back to the door.
"Why?" I asked cocking my eyebrow at him.
"Mr. Stark is here and he's brought a guest." He told me before phasing back through my door. I gulped slightly as I made my way towards my door.
---
I was the last to make it into the conference room. The Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross was standing in front of the long table. I took the only seat left, the one in front of Wanda. I sat down crossing my arms as we waited for him to start talking.
"Five years ago, I had a heart attack." He began, holding his arms up like he was about to putt a golf ball onto the green. "I dropped right in the middle of my backswing." He moved so he was leaning on the table. "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." I scrunched my brows slightly not sure where he was going with this. "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'." My heart stopped as the words left his mouth.
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Nat asked.
"How about 'dangerous'?" He replied immediately. I ran my fingers over my lips nervously as he spoke. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign boarders and inflict their will on wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"
He stepped aside as a map of the world appeared up on the screen in the room. The map zoomed in and showed the topographical map of New York.
"New York." He announced. News footage from when Loki and the Chitauri attacked New York played on the screen. A Chitauri Leviathan swam through the air. Terrified citizens ran about the streets avoiding the destruction. A solider fired a gun at the alien like creatures. The Hulk jumped from a building smashing into another one sending a massive cloud of dust and ruble down onto the filmer and surrounding civilians. It zoomed out again to show the whole world before it zoomed back in, this time over Washington DC.
"Washington DC." He announced yet again. The same thing happened they started to show news clips of when Shield collapsed, quite literally. The three helicarriers up high in the sky fired at each other. Smoke rising form the building. One of the helicarriers crashed into the Potomac River making a ginormous wave force itself upon the civilians fleeing the scene.
"Sokovia." My blood ran slightly cold. I don't want to see footage of that but the map zoomed back out then back into Eastern Europe, then into Sokovia. Terrified citizens ran out of the way of the bots, screaming for their lives. The floating island of half of the city rising higher and higher in the sky. A building back on the ground fell over crushing other buildings in its path. I glanced down at my hands resting in my lap, feeling the guilt wash over me.
"Ok, that's enough." Steve said.
"Lagos." He continued anyway. I glanced back up at the screen. The burning building that Rumlow's bomb hit showed on the screen. A paramedic rolling a body bag out of the building. A few cops helping people out of the building. Then the most horrifying image popped up on screen. A dead girl. Dust covering her body and rubble around her. I heard Wanda almost slightly gasp behind me. I looked back down to my hands again.
"Okay. That's enough." Steve said this time with a bit more force. Secretary Ross nodded towards the man controlling the images and the screen goes back to our Avengers logo.
"For the past 4 years, you've operated with the 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 said turning to the same man that was controlling the screen before. He passed Secretary Ross a thick book. He placed to down on the table in front of me and Wanda before sliding it closer to us. I swiveled my chair so I was looking down on the document. Written in large print at the top of the page were the words 'The Sokovia Accords'. My blood ran cold again. We exchanged a glance before Wanda slid it across the table to Rhodey.
"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." Ross explained as he walked around the table, stopping in between Nat and Steve.
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve said his gazed fixed on the table.
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" He asked making Steve look up at him. "If I miss placed a couple of 30 megaton nukes... you can bet there'd be consequences." He continued when Steve didn't respond. Ross walked back to the head of the table. "Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." He said pointing at the document.
"So, there are contingencies." Rhodey said tapping his fingers on top of the large book.
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Ross informed us. "Talk it over." He said after a long pause. Him and his man walked towards the conference room doors.
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Nat asked making Secretary Ross stop in his tracks.
"Then you retire."
---
We were gathered in what was our living and kitchen area of our compound. Steve was sitting in the center chair flipping through the book. Nat and Tony were sitting to Steve's left. Vis and Wanda were sitting on the couch to Steve's right. Rhodey and Sam were arguing behind Steve. And I was sitting on the floor in between Steve and Wanda's feet.
"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have." Rhodey argued.
"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 asked. That was my fear, being locked up for eternity, being treated like an object.
"A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, it's cool. We got it.'"
"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam asked as I fiddled with my hands in my lap. I'm only 15, I can't really interven very much.
"I have an equation." Vis tuned in.
"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam said as we all focused in on Vis.
"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." Vis explained. I nodded slightly. Wait, doesn't that mean this is all our fault? Every almost world ending event is our fault?
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked, voicing my thoughts.
"I'm saying there may be a casuality." Vis corrected. "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." Was all Rhodey said to end his argument with Sam.
"Tony." Nat said to gain Tony's attention. He flopped his hand away from his face, showing he had heard her speak. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal."
"It's cause he's already made up his mind." Steve answered for Tony.
"Boy, you know me so well." Tony sighed. He slowly sat up and brought his hand up to the back of his head. "Actually I'm nursing my electromagnetic headache." He corrected. He got up and walked into the kitchen grabbing a cup. "That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." He then started to fiddle around in the sink. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal. Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"
He turned around placing his mug and a pot of hot coffee on the bench. He placed his phone in the basket of fruit and tapped the screen. A picture popped up showing a smiling young boy. Tony glanced at it.
"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid." I cocked an eyebrow wondering where he was going with this. "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." I closed my eyes, the guilt washing over me all over again. "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."
None of us deared to speak. We all just sat in silence as Tony popped an ibuprofen into his mouth and sipped on his coffee. He walked around the counter and leant against it.
"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 explained to us.
"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve said, starting an argument with Tony.
"Who said 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." Rhodey piped up again. "That... that is 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." Steve interjected again.
"And let's not forget the government, a few years back, tried to nuke New York." I mumbled under my breath, none of them heard me though.
"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 stop manufacturing."
"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." Steve said making a lot of sense. Honestly I'm more leaning towards not signing it. They could do awful things if they had control over any of us, yet alone me...
"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." I gulped slightly as I mulled everything over.
"You're saying they'll come for us." Wanda said placing her hand on my shoulder. I rested my hand over it as she stared straight ahead.
"We would protect you." Vision told Wanda making her turn to him. "Both of you." He continued looking to me. I nodded lightly as Wanda moved her hand back into her lap. I pulled my legs into my chest and continued to listen to the conversation.
"Maybe Tony's right." Nat said suddenly. We all looked to her shocked, Tony was especially shocked. She wasn't exactly the one to go along with stuff like this. "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 cutting her off.
"I'm just... I'm reading the terrain." Nat explained. "We've made... some very public mistakes. We need to win their trusts back."
"Focus up." Tony said as he leant on the arm on the small couch. "I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"
"Oh..." Nat mumbled shaking her head at him. "I want to take it back now."
"No, no, no. You can't retract it." Tony told her shaking his finger at her.
I zoned out slightly, the thought of being locked up still playing on my mind. I'd never get to see anyone again... My new family, my new friends... Steve's sudden voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"I have to go." Steve said getting up and shoving the Accords onto the coffee table. We all watched him confused as he walked out of the room without saying another word.
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