Chapter 32

We were one of the last to enter the meeting room. Given, I was extremely reluctant and attempted to stall, Tony told me it was necessary and proceeded to drag me by the arm.

So obviously, I had to go.

When I got there, the table had already been filled.

Sitting in two rows are; Wanda, Vision and Sam.

The other side had Rhodey, Natasha and Steve.

I avoided eye contact with any of them and chose to settle on a seat behind the table--trying in vain to avoid eye contact with my fellow team members who regard me with knowing looks.

Tony notices the cold icy feeling in the room wisely keeps silent, going to sit next to me, his body radiating warmth.

It doesn't take an idiot to see that all of my team were anxious and some, angry.

I read emotions, it was undeniable at this point. No matter what I did, I won't be able to avoid it.

Steve, Natasha and Sam radiated with anger and confusion.

Wanda didn't blame me for not being able to help her in Lagos. The younger girl knows I did my best, but her hatred for herself over what happened simply overpowers everything.

She blames herself.

Even now, the bond I shared with her, thrummed in sadness.

The other three, however?

The people who went on the mission in Lagos?

Oh, I can feel it.

They may be too kind to say it, but it's clear that they shared the same thoughts and feelings.

Why, didn't you stop it? Why didn't you check properly?

They don't blame Wanda. She was young-- still learning the ways of an Avenger and I silently agreed on that.

Blame me.

Don't blame the girl I took it as my own or I will personally kill you.

"Secretary Ross." I greeted him from my seat, looking knowingly at the man.

The Secretary of State gives me a twisted half lip as if disgusted by my presence.

"Dark Witch,"

It was a low blow but I capped it in, not wanting him to see how trigger-happy I currently was at the moment.

"So," I state coolly. "What brings you here, to our lovely estate?"

He scoffs, choosing to ignore the insult and to focus on what he came here to do.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing."

Seriously?

Why was he going on about his tragic story, we all had tragic backgrounds. No one in this room was pure. No one in this room could say they lived happy lives.

Maybe Ross, should've just stayed dead.

His very presence annoys me.

"--turns 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."

"That fixes everything?" I asked out loud, not caring that Tony elbowed me on the side, an action that meant; keep quiet.

This was a serious matter.

Of course, it was, hell, why do you think I'm approaching it so angrily?

If I don't speak my mind, Secretary Ross was going to fly out the window and there was no one that would be able to stop me.

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives..." He paused and leaned both hands on the table.

"But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some... who would prefer the word; vigilantes."

The chorus of silence around the room proves that he struck deep in his words.

"And what word would you use Mr Secretary?" Natasha asks, smiling boldly.

Neither of us liked what he was implying.

"What about dangerous?" He cuts her off with a glare. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose?"

He regards us with a stern expression. hands refining the collars of his suit.

"And who, frankly--seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

Moving to the side, he gestures to one of his men to activate the monitor behind him.

The monitor in the meeting room comes to life. We watch in grim resignation as it shows us a data plan of the world.

There are tiny blimps across several countries. Blips that signified where the Avengers went during our missions.

He zooms in. "New York,"

The screen, plays and there's footage of the Chitauri alien-whale floating through, followed by the screams of innocents.

Hulk lands on the building, the debris hitting the camera and making it go static.

"Washington DC."

The three insight Helicarriers are shooting at each other, destroying themselves beyond repair and collapsing on innocents and those that try and fail o run.

There's footage of me killing a bunch of SHIELD agents in one scene, the Winter Soldier in the other.

I bit my lip, trying my best not to lose control at the moment.

That was when I was still under HYDRA's command.

No one has seen me do what I did that day, and now Secretary Ross had just exposed that part of myself. That part I never wanted anyone to see.

"Sokovia,"

The footage changes, showing the Sokovian City rising above the ground. There are terrifying screams as building after building fall like dominoes.

Wanda's distress rings clear in my mind due to the mental bond. Everybody else's came in waves from my echolation.

"Lagos."

The video shows us a burning building. The building, in Lagos.

I can still hear the screams of pain and anguish. I can still feel the fear, the terror, the chaos that ensued all around us.

The footage slows down, revealing a girl on the ground. She lays still, her eyes dull.

She was dead.

Collateral damage from being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

"Okay," Steve interrupts. "That's enough."

For once, Ross--the douche bag--does something right. He signals his men to stop the footage from playing and looks around at each of our faces, satisfied with how managed to affect all of us.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision." He grabs a thick book from one of his men.

"That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." He hands it over to Wanda and she receives it with a wary look.

From here, I can see the bold letters written on it.

'THE SOKOVIA ACCORDS'

She looks at it with grim resignation before sliding it over to Rhodey who gestures her to give it to him.

"The Sokovia Accords." Ross clarifies. "Approved by 117 countries... it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization."

So what? We become the Governments lap dogs? We come at their beck and call, do whatever they want us to do?

What a joke, it's just another word for control.

They want to bind us, shackle us, because they fear what they do not know, they fear what they cannot sway.

You want the proof?

You're looking right at her.

I was the evidence. I was the proof of what Governments tried to control.

What did I get in return?

A missing childhood, a terrible past-- all topped up with a broken soul.

But it wasn't just me now.

My gaze finds Wanda and I couldn't help but be worried.

She was too young for this. And with powers like hers, she'd be seen as a threat.

And me?

It doesn't matter, you'd be dead before it even happen.

Shut up!

It won't matter what we chose. They will always see us as threats. They will always fear what they do not understand.

At the back of my mind, I see a flash of Ultron's hollow red eyes.

"These people you call family, they will turn on you, such as the basis of humanity, they fear what they cannot control!"

I wave the memory away just as fast as it was conjured.

He was wrong.

He had to be wrong.

Ross walks behind all of us, mouth moving as he does so. "They will operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

He stops directly in front of Steve, knowing the Captain held the most authority.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place." Steve defends. "I feel we've done that."

I can already tell he hates this solution. He absolutely detests it.

After the downfall of SHIELD he'd been adamant about staying away from any Government-related organization.

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" He scoffs mocking Steve for backing out of this.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes... you can bet there'd be consequences."

"Well we're not nukes are we?" I said, voice deadly low.

Who was he to compare us to weapons of mass destruction?

Secretary Ross turns on his heel, regarding me very closely.

I had a strange suspicion he'd been waiting for me to say something-- like he has me right where he wants me.

"No, you're not." He smiles. "You're worst, Miss Stark. A switch, if you must. One flick and you've lost all control."

It doesn't look like he's talking about the team anymore.

Just me.

I bit my lip and looked away, not wanting to watch those eyes of his that I so badly wanted to rip out.

He'd hit a sore spot. A spot that remains deep inside me, a spot I tucked away because I was simply too afraid to acknowledge it.

Tony remains still from where he sits, which was right beside me.

I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I was waiting for him to have the balls to say something--to defend me.

But he doesn't.

In fact, none of my team members does. And it makes my heart hurt even more over the fact that they felt this way--that deep down inside, what Ross said, is what everyone had always thought.

Only Wanda gives me a small reassuring smile.

Only she knew of the dangers our powers held and how unstable they were, how unstable, we could become.

It wasn't our fault.

"Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." Ross walks back in front of us with an exaggerated sigh.

"So, there are contingencies--" Rhodey puts out, fishing for more information.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Ross doesn't let Rhodey have his way.

It's game over.

Either stay in the boat or jump off.

I didn't miss how Steve looked back at Tony. His gaze drifted towards me at one point and there's almost an accusing note to it.

Like he's accusing me of knowing what Ross was planning to do.

I didn't know of this. How could I?

But Tony...

He didn't tell me.

He must've known. If not why did he gather us all here in the first place?

"Talk it over." Ross moves to leave the room, done with how he just dropped a bomb on us.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha half-smiles, hiding the fact that she so blandly wants to kill the Secretary.

"Then you retire." He replies without a beat before leaving the room to ourselves.

All of us looked at one another, questions and answers remaining silent.

I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes, feeling the veins burn once more.

Game over.

The voice hisses and I clamp it down, the very effect of it sending my brain through a loop of pain.

Your fault. Why didn't you stop it?

Shut up.

Ever since the veins grew, the words had only gotten louder, more malicious, more... dangerous.

Gathering my strength, I look at my team members with unfounded anger.

"So," I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. "Does anyone have the balls to say they blame me for what happened?"

~~@ @ @~~

A/N

I sense tension.

Uh oh.

VoTe aNd CommENT