The Secretary began, "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 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me"
"Perspective" he said, "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"
Natasha was the first to speak, "What word would you use, Mr. Secretary?"
"How about dangerous?" Secretary Ross replied, "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?"
He moved out of the way as the screen flashed, showing a map, "New York"
The shaky camera revealed people running in all sorts of places while looking up at the disaster above them. A visible roar was heard as the camera focused in on the Hulk jumping from building to building as he fought off the Chitauri. Amora folded her arms over her chest and looked closely as she saw nothing wrong with this film. She knew how difficult the Chitauri was and was glad to hear someone like the Hulk was on her father's side helping him fight. Before the clip ended, a piece of rubble had fallen over the camera man.
"Washington, DC" Ross continued as the clip basically showed the same thing.
"Sokovia" Ross went on as destruction was continuously shown, "Lagos"
This one was easy to remember but also not too easy to recall. Guilt wrapped around her intestines as she knew if she hadn't seen Pietro, Amora would've easily have turned back time to warn her team. From the corner of her eye, she saw Wanda shift and look away from the screen, clearly distraught. She glanced over to Secretary Ross as he too noticed this but continued to show the clip.
"Okay" Steve spoke up, "That's enough"
"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision" Ross got to his point, "That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate, but I think we have a solution"
Ross gave Wanda one of the thickest paperback bill she has ever seen, "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"
Steve responded with, "The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place, I feel we've done that"
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross questioned.
"Do you?" Ross turned to Amora suddenly.
She blinked, not really expecting the question to be turned on her so quickly, "What?"
Ross repeated, "Do you know where your father is?"
Amora couldn't help but scoff, "I've grown up not knowing where my father was, I've grown to live with not worrying about his disappearance"
"But we don't"
"Can I explain something?" Amora asked as Ross waved her to continue, "In New York, wasn't it your idea to nuke the state while my father and his friends refused that order and in the end, saved your planet? Wasn't there an arrest for Captain America and Black Widow for being falsely accused of a crime they did not commit?"
Ross formed his jaw as he placed his hands in his pockets and looked the Asgardian head on. Still, Amora stared him down as well, she didn't like how this Secretary of State was using one half of the coin just to get his point across. It was unjust and would never have been allowed on Asgard.
"You can go back in time and change this mission to no fatalities at all" Ross told her, "But that doesn't change the fact that sooner or later this Accord will be in front of you even if one mission goes wrong. Now, I'll ask one more time. Do you know where your father and Banner are?"
Amora glared as she said, "No, and I wouldn't trouble myself over them"
Ross finished with, "If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes you can bet there'd be consequences"
"Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works" Ross told everyone, "Believe me, this is the middle ground"
Rhodey said, "So, there are contingencies"
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords" Ross responded, "Talk it over"
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asked.
Ross told her before leaving the room, "Then you retire"
Wanda shook her head, "This is all my fault"
"No, he's right" Rhodey told her, "Doesn't matter how often Amora could change the past, the Accord stays the same. I'd rather have it that we're fighting a piece of paper rather than having a country want to go on all out war with us"
"You don't want me to go back?" Amora asked.
"It's not necessary" Vision said, "We better just agree to this right now and get it over with. There are too many factors of reversing time"
Amora sighed, "I should've told him the original timeline was where all of you were floating in space as ashes. That might have made him understand what we went through"
"Then you would have to explain it to 117 other countries" Rhodey told her.
"We don't need to explain anything" Sam said from his corner, "Amora is right, all the moves we did were the necessary ones. Things could've gone a lot worse if we let the government decide. In these cases, we shouldn't. We do things that they wouldn't be able to do"
"Then we're no different then other vigilantes" Natasha concluded.
Amora sighed as she watched the Accords being passed around before it finally landed on Steve's lap. The man flipped through it carefully, reading it word for word as everyone argued all around him.
"So you want to sign it?" Amora asked.
"I didn't say that, it's just that I get where they are coming from" Natasha responded, "If this casualty happened on American soil then we would be just as furious"
"Or understandable" Amora commented, "It took us forever to lock down Rumlow and now he's out of the picture"
"Unfortunately, they don't see it like you do and now… neither can we" Rhodey said.