Uncompromising Principles
Disclaimer: Premise and characters belong to Marvel, I'm just playing with them.
Notes: I just can't get my head around where Clint's supposed to be coming from. In AoU it sounded like he was supposed to be the 'heart' of the team, the level-headed one who could bridge disagreements between Steve and Tony (but it was his wife talking so she might be biased). In CW, Clint comes when Cap calls and if he ever bothered to take five seconds to consider the Accords or where Tony was coming from it happened so far off screen that it wasn't even hinted at. And then there was the scene on the Raft... Inconsistent writing between the movies, I know, but it's so bad that I'm left feeling like I've been told to have warm-fuzzies toward the character but I can't imagine why.
Chapter Ten: Recess
Sam climbed into the military-style truck he and Clint had liberated a few days earlier. They'd come across a group of armed thugs harassing a defenseless village. They hadn't been sure if the thugs were associated with the corrupt government, a rebel faction or if they'd just been opportunistic bandits, in the end it didn't really matter. They were clearly bad guys who needed to be stopped so Clint and Sam took care of them. Afterwards they couldn't just leave the thugs weapons lying around for someone else to pick up so they'd loaded them in the truck, taken a few of their uniforms to blend in better and went back to playing catch-up with Wanda.
"It was that same group harassing Wanda again," Sam sighed. "On the face of it they seem peaceful enough, if misguided."
Clint snorted, "They're just looking for someone to blame, if Rumlow hadn't blown himself up they'd be happy enough with his head."
Sam looked a little doubtful as he continued, "The Wakandan members probably gave the group their starting point for tracking Wanda but someone with deep pockets is financing this. The original group was mostly family of those killed in Lagos, not exactly local but at least from this region of the world, but now? They've got Sokovia survivors, people from Johannesburg, Vienna, Bucharest, Germany, there are even people who were hurt when the helicarriers went down."
"Idiots," Clint muttered, "They're lucky Wanda's doing such a good job controlling her temper. Nothing worse than bruises and few broken bones even with the way they keep bullying her." He thought for a moment. "You think another of Stark's AI's went nuts? I'm sure FRIDAY released the video of Ross-"
He broke off abruptly.
Sam sighed, "I still can't believe Tony Stark's really dead let alone that Cap killed him. Even given that it was a freak accident it seems impossible."
"It was the Accords that killed him," Clint said emphatically. "If Vision hadn't been playing by the politician's rules he would have gotten to Tony soon enough to save him. FRIDAY could be behind the group, from what we've heard they got organized through online communities and she'd have access to the resources needed for this."
"I suppose," Sam allowed. "I wish Wanda had stayed in Wakanda. Hell I wish she'd stayed at the compound, I had no idea how angry people were with her. It wasn't her fault Rumlow decided to play suicide bomber, he's the real bad guy."
"If we'd left her at the compound how long would it have been before Ross got a hold of her?" Clint demanded. "Don't you remember what Ross did to her? The collar? The straightjacket? Those goddamned Accords, Tony would have ended up turning her over to the likes of Ross sooner rather than later and who knows what would have happened to her if Steve hadn't broken us out."
"You okay?" Sam asked quietly.
Clint sighed, "I would have died without seeing Nate come into the world if not for Pietro," he said. "I owe it to him to take care of his sister and I'm doing a shit job of it as far as I can see. I thought I was giving her a chance at a good life when I left her with the Avengers. Then Cap calls and tells me Tony's got her locked up, next thing I know we're in the Raft. First one of Tony's missiles kills her parents, then HYDRA gets their claws into her, her homeland gets decimated because of Tony's murderbot and Pietro gets killed saving yours truly, the whole world turns on her over an honest mistake, she never seems to catch a break. I feel like I'm letting Pietro down after what he did for me."
"We'll get her back, make her safe," Sam promised. "I've worked a lot with her and what she went through as a child was horrific, but there's still a sweet young woman underneath all the anger she carries."
The TV droned on in May and Peter Parker's home as the prosecution called on every person injured in Bucharest and Berlin to testify as well as doctors to further discuss the impact the injuries would cause to people's lives, civil engineers to discuss the damage to the freeway tunnel and the airport.
One of the medical experts was detailing the nerve damage and loss of function suffered by an eighteen-year-old girl who had been in a car-wreck caused by the tunnel chase, she'd been an aspiring artist, Peter remembered. "We should turn that off," Aunt May said tiredly but neither of them reached for the remote.
"I'm not like that," Peter said after a few more minutes. "I don't just go around hurting people."
"That boy, Flash, might beg to differ," May said.
Peter looked away, "It was an accident, I just got tired of being pushed around by him and everyone like him and- and- I can still hear the sound of his arm snapping. I really didn't think I pushed him that hard."
"I know," May nodded toward the TV, toward Steve Rogers sitting at the defendant's table grey-faced, "but I look at him and I can see that he didn't know how much harm he was doing either. That's why I'm going to say yes to Colonel Rhodes training you. I'm still not sure about the rest of it, powers or not I'm not certain you have the judgement to be making decisions that could get someone killed. You're sixteen Peter, look at the debates about raising the minimum driving age and then apply them to what you're doing! But I know having these powers isn't a choice, you can't give them back or shut them off, they're a part of you, telling you to pretend they aren't would be wrong. Ben and I raised you not to turn away from problems, I do understand why you feel like you should be out there helping people. I'm still afraid, afraid you'll get hurt, afraid you'll hurt someone else. Learning about your new abilities in a safe, controlled environment, I'm strongly in favor of that. We'll talk about the rest of it once Colonel Rhodes is back to introduce us to this police captain of his. I want to meet him and see a concrete plan of how you'd work with the police, what they're expecting of you and how they'll look out for you before I decide on anything else."
When the second day's testimony concluded Peter went upstairs and came back wearing his suit. May gave him an unimpressed look. "I'm just going to Stark Towers, not patrolling," Peter said quickly. "I need to go fix something. Dr. Stark had started a project to let Colonel Rhodes walk again, I'm trying to finish it."
May considered him for a long moment then nodded, "Don't go looking for trouble," she instructed.
"I won't," Peter promised. True to his word he quickly made his way across the city to the tower. "Welcome back Peter," FRIDAY said.
"Hey FRI," Peter replied then changed back into the civilian clothes he'd started keeping at the Tower before heading down to the lab.
Peter had barely opened up his files when FRIDAY announced, "Harley's calling. He's been in the lab for six hours now, talking would be good for him."
"Hey, how's your side coming?" Peter asked the younger boy when FRIDAY opened a video line between the two labs.
Harley sighed explosively. "Not as quick as I'd hoped. If you're not having trouble maybe you should put the interface on War Machine first. Colonel Rhodes can't use the armor to go out for coffee but he'd probably still appreciate not being relegated to gunner on missions."
"With B.A.R.F. I started more than halfway to the finish line," Peter said consolingly. "My biggest challenge is that B.A.R.F.'s designed to collect data from the memory centers of the brain. Dr. Conners over at Empire University helped me figure out what parts of the brain controls motor function. I just had to adapt B.A.R.F.'s targeting to get it the right data. Is there anyone you could talk to about robotics?"
"Colonel Rhodes, but I don't want to disappoint him if it doesn't work," Harley admitted. "Tony was trying to make prosthetics with ankle movement and even flexion in the feet so the Colonel could run and they were supposed to be light enough to be not too obvious," Harley sighed. "I just can't figure out how he was going to manage it. I'm going back to the Iron Man designs and trying to strip the design of the lower body down so it's good for everyday use without losing functionality. I'll have knee and hip motion but I'm going to have to provide fixed support for the ankles and the lower back. It should let him walk but… It's a long way from what Tony was trying to do."
"You can keep working at it," Peter said. "First get him walking. I'm sure you'll learn a lot designing just that. Then you can go back and redesign to let him run. I'll talk to the other R&D engineers here, even if they don't have time to really focus on Colonel Rhodes' project maybe there's someone you could bounce robotics questions off of."
"Yeah," Harley agreed with a disappointed huff. "Maybe I'll try Dr. Pym, apparently he's a jerk but Tony thought he knew what he was doing. We're both in California… FRIDAY, I know Tony said I can't use the armor until I'm eighteen, but could you use it to give me a ride up to San Francisco? I'm harder to ignore in person than in an email."
"Tomorrow," FRIDAY said. "He's old, it's midnight, he's probably asleep already. I've heard it's good to be courteous when asking favors, waking someone up in the middle of the night is not polite."
"Are you watching?" Harley asked Peter after several moments of silence between them. He didn't specify what and Peter didn't need him to.
Harley waited a few moments then when Peter didn't reply he went on. "Tony gave me Iron Man," he said. "He also had FRIDAY show me his medical records, full disclosure on what I was letting myself in for if I decided to keep it." Harley took a deep breath, "That didn't scare me half as much as the trial, thinking about making the sort of decisions where I might hurt someone the way Rogers did."
Peter ignored Harley's rambling, but it didn't deter the younger boy.
"I- Siberia- It's not hard to say I'll never do something like that, 'cause I'd rather kill myself than betray anyone like that self-righteous asshole betrayed Tony. But Bucharest, I can't be so sure. I can't just say I'd never get so caught up in what I was doing that I stopped seeing how it was effecting other people around me, you know what I mean?"
"No, how would I?" Peter answered shortly then hung up on Harley. He'd gone to the lab to avoid thinking about just that.
Peter managed a couple hours of work on the interface but he couldn't get the conversation with Harley out of his head. When he left the tower Peter found himself swinging by the police department in Queens instead of heading straight home. It only took a couple of minutes hanging around the upper-story windows for him to locate Captain Stacy's office.
Peter knocked on the window. Captain Stacy got up and started toward the door. Peter knocked again then waved when Stacy turned and stared at the webslinger. "Wasn't expecting you," he said as he opened the window. "Colonel Rhodes made an appointment to introduce us next week and I thought you'd agreed to lay off the vigilante act in the meanwhile."
"I did, I mean I have," Peter said trying to make his voice sound older.
"Then what brings you by?" Stacy asked. "I think I'd have noticed aliens or costumed crazies tearing up the city."
"The crooks I catch, um, how bad do I hurt them?" Peter stammered.
"So you're watching the trial?" Stacy said, then he shook his head. "Of course you are." He gestured for Spider-man to take the chair across from his desk while he marshaled his thoughts.
"Your webbing is a good choice of weapons. Maybe ten percent of the muggers come in with concussions. Sprained or bruised wrists, elbows and shoulders are common in anyone you disarm. One guy had an allergic reaction to your webbing, still he was better off than he would have been if the girl he'd attacked hadn't dropped her mace. He got less than he deserved."
"I bet," Peter said. "I tried to rescue this one girl, she maced both me and the guy who'd been attacking her. That was hard to explain to my-" Peter cut himself off with an apologetic gesture. Stacy nodded, accepting that Peter wasn't ready to share much about himself yet.
"Against muggers you're pretty good about collateral damage, you've broken a few windows and bent a few light poles, they weren't designed to have people hanging from them you know," Stacy continued with a slight grin. "Truth be told that sand guy last month didn't give you many options, the property damage you did saved lives and I told Jamison so after his editorial."
"You did? Um, thanks. That one was vicious."
"It was his car you used for a bat," Stacy replied. "As long as you don't go hunting the crazies down I think we'll be okay, which is why I agreed when Colonel Rhodes suggested this. I wouldn't be considering this if he asked me to work with that guy over in Hell's Kitchen. I don't countenance torture or any sort of brutality from someone associated with the police." Then Stacy rubbed his temples tiredly. "But after so much of that department turned out to be corrupt? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that we were the cause of that guy's anger issues. I know Rhodes checked my department out, it was blunt, in depth and I can only take it as a warning."
Peter's head jerked up in surprise.
Stacy smiled and shrugged, "It's not all one way. You need to know we can be trusted too and Colonel Rhodes was letting us know that there would be consequences if he sent you to us and we proved unworthy of that trust."
"I don't like this strategy," Scott whined to his lawyer, "Can't we do something else?"
"It's the truth, that's why you don't like it," Hank stated. "So suck it up and listen to what she's telling the jury because it is true and you need to stop pretending it's not. That idiot, a man you'd never even met, called and you came running. You didn't give a thought to your daughter… Or mine! Your parole board, anything, you just went. Over a set of laws you hadn't even read yet. I'll take some of the blame for biasing you against Stark... I still don't like him, but he's dead and I can be generous enough to admit being Howard's son wasn't a particularly good reason for despising him. Hell, I knew Howard, I probably should have felt at least a little pity for anyone raised under his thumb."
"I'm not asking you to say anything you don't personally believe," Ms. Walters told Scott. "Just answer the questions honestly and don't worry about how I spin it. Leave it to the jury to decide if he had undue influence over you or not."
An hour later Scott sat quietly in the courtroom and listened while his lawyer gave her opening statement.
"We all grew up with Captain America, he was a staple of our Saturday morning cartoons and in our history books. For over seventy years Captain America has been portrayed as an infallible champion of justice, a hero who inevitably saves day. When Steve Rogers was retrieved from the ice and the real person behind all those stories was once more among us… Nothing changed. When the Avengers saved the day Captain America's face plastered our TV sets. And when the media turned to the collateral damage caused by the Avengers it was always mentioned in conjunction with Stark Industries paying for the damage. I'd say the media inferred that SI did this because Tony Stark, above all others, had reason to feel guilty about the damages but if I did I'd be giving the media too much credit. They didn't infer that, they said it outright.
"Just over a month ago, my client, Scott Lang received a call saying that the world was in peril. That Captain America needed his help because Tony Stark betrayed him and tore the Avengers in half. At that point Scott Lang had never met either Steve Rogers or Tony Stark, he only knew them from media coverage and through the opinion of his mentor, Hank Pym, who had a bitter rivalry with Howard Stark, further coloring both his and Mr. Lang's opinion of Tony Stark.
"Given everything he knew, Scott Lang trusted Steve Rogers' word and set out to save the world. Instead he ended up aiding a fugitive from justice because, given his background, it was simply inconceivable to Scott Lang that Captain America's side could be wrong. He didn't come that conclusion in a vacuum, it was a message repeated endlessly by the media for the last seventy years, even now with Steve Rogers on trial for charges including several counts of felony murder you can still hear mainstream news outlets defending his actions more or less on the basis of he's Captain America and there must have been a good reason for it.
"Scott went to Germany in good faith to help a national hero who told him the world needed saving. He put his own life in jeopardy believing that the fate of the world was at stake and he voluntarily turned himself once he understood the forces which caused the fight at the Leipzig-Halle Airport were more complicated that Captain America - Good, Tony Stark - Bad. Please consider Scott Lang's actions in the light of what he had every reason to believe was true, what Captain America told him was true: That the world was in imminent danger."
Sitting in the studio the TV news anchor turned to the cameras and announced, "During yesterday's testimony in the case against Captain Steven Grant Rogers it was revealed that Sgt James Buchanan Barnes had himself placed back in cryogenic sleep following the revelation that the HYDRA conditioning which turned him into the feared assassin the Winter Soldier could be reactivated. Today, we have with us Ms. Virgina Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and Tony Stark's long time romantic interest. Ms. Potts, you said you wished to address the issue of the Winter Soldier?"
"More, since Sgt. Barnes' current location and keepers remain unnamed, I wanted to make an announcement to the general public," Pepper said. "It is my understanding that the conditioning which created the Winter Soldier is highly dependent on memory manipulation. I'd like to offer Stark Industries' Binarily Augmented Retro Framing technology to assist Sgt. Barnes in freeing himself from HYDRA's conditioning."
"Well, that is certainly a very generous offer given recent revelation that Howard and Maria Stark's deaths in 1991 were the work of the Winter Soldier."
"Not at all," Pepper disagreed. "First it's simple pragmatics. Putting himself back under was an admirable effort to protect the public from the danger that he represents but it isn't enough. In Berlin we all saw how easily a lone agent was able to penetrate the United Nations' security measures and reactivate the Winter Soldier. If Stark Industries can aid in eliminating the risk of that unstoppable killing machine being unleashed again, it is our moral obligation to do so. Beyond that, I don't see eliminating the conditioning that created the Winter Soldier as helping Howard and Maria Stark's murderer… I see it as destroying the weapon that murdered them."
"Based on Captain Rogers' statement about Siberia, it would seem the late Tony Stark, wouldn't share that sentiment."
"I'm certain Captain Rogers believes every word he said," Pepper replied. "I'm certain that he desperately needs to believe that he accidentally killed Tony while preventing Tony from killing Sgt. Barns. However, he's only known Tony a fraction of the time I have. I don't believe Tony would have killed Sgt. Barnes, even given the horrible shock of watching Barnes murder his parents. It was just Tony, Captain Rogers and Sgt. Barnes in Siberia, no other lives at risk. In Berlin Rogers proved that he would not turn Sgt. Barnes into the the authorities. During the past three years since Sgt. Barnes escaped HYDRA's control he chose to remain a fugitive from the law. Under those conditions I don't believe Tony would have killed Barnes. I doubt Barnes would have been in any condition to even consider running if Tony had been allowed to apprehend him in Siberia, but I don't believe he would have been dead.
Pepper turned slightly to directly address the camera. "Tony Stark was not a murderer but Steve Rogers needs to believe Tony was capable of murder in order to justify his own actions in Siberia. Rogers claims it was self-defense. The repulsor in one of Tony's boots was destroyed, that would have grounded him, forced him to fight hand-to-hand when Iron Man's strength lay in ranged attacks. Tony's helmet was shattered after repeated blows, not just leaving him vulnerable to further attacks aim at his head but isolating him from his allies, preventing him from calling for help. Tony's chest plate was destroyed to get at the arc reactor. Just a few years ago the arc reactor didn't simply power the Iron Man armor, it kept Tony's heart from being torn apart from the shrapnel left in his chest after his kidnapping in Afghanistan, the suits were designed to protect it as much as to protect Tony himself, because for the greater part of Tony's career as Iron Man destroying the arc reactor would have had practically the same effect as tearing Tony's heart out of his chest.
"Steve Rogers walked away, leaving Tony in a deserted HYDRA base in Siberia with multiple broken ribs, no power for his suit and no way to call for help. But it was in defense of his friend Bucky Barnes so it was okay… At least until it turned out that Tony was human and abandoned under those conditions he died. Steve Rogers can't entertain the notion that Tony wasn't a murderer, that he wasn't out to kill Sgt. Barnes. Because if he did consider that possibility? Well, what does that make Captain Rogers?
"Stark Industries is offering the use of our technology if it will help Sgt. Barnes overcome HYDRA's conditioning, because it's the right thing for the world to eliminate the Winter Soldier. We hope that once he's truly free of HYDRA's control Sgt. Barnes will prove himself to be the man described in our stories and history books and will step forward and accept responsibility for the part he played in Tony Stark's death."
As he walked down the empty hall toward Steve Rogers' cell, Foggy heard Virginia Pott's voice. When the interview ended there was a brief pause then it started playing again from the beginning. Foggy frowned at the guards escorting him, "How long has that been going?" he asked in a flat voice.
A recorder sat on the floor just outside Steve's door, the volume turned up loud enough to be clearly heard on the other side.
The guards didn't answer or look at Foggy as one of them unlocked the door while the others took up position further down the hall. Steve was sitting on his bunk, pressed back into the corner of the room, when the door creaked open he looked up with bruised looking eyes.
Angrily Foggy turned and kicked the recorder across the hall to shatter against the far wall. "Once would have been fine, but making him listen to that all night? Taking lessons from the KGB are you?" he snapped.
Impassively the guards waited until Foggy stepped inside the cell, then shut the door behind him.
After a moment, Foggy sat down beside Steve, close enough that their shoulders brushed.
"Well, Bucky's getting help. I should be happy about that much right?" Steve said after a long while.
"I think Ms. Potts has her own biases and even if she's right that was a crap thing to do, making you listen to that over and over again," Foggy said.
"What do you think I should have done?" Steve asked quietly.
"I think this isn't a good time," Foggy prevaricated. "Keeping you from sleeping affects how you think. Plus the level of isolation they're keeping you under, it gives me too much influence over you."
"I don't need much sleep since the serum," Steve disagreed. "And I've always been stubborn. Ask Buck sometime about how easily my opinions are swayed, you'll get an earful about a punk too stupid to ever back down even when he should. I want to hear, where did I mess up?"
"Where would I have done things differently," Foggy corrected. "And remember I've got the benefit of hindsight here, but… If you really want to know?"
Steve nodded.
"I think that if you'd trusted Tony Stark as teammate or if you'd seen his friendship as something worth salvaging you would have signed the Accords in Berlin and you would have returned Sgt. Barnes to UN custody after you captured him," Foggy said. "When Stark approached you about the Accords in Berlin Sgt. Barnes wasn't in immediate danger and neither was Ms. Maximoff. The fact that you never asked why she was restricted to the compound before deciding it was unacceptable doesn't sit right with me. Stark not telling her she was on house arrest suggests that he thought could resolve whatever situation had made it necessary before she noticed and with the way the media was baying for her blood, letting her wander around could have caused a riot."
"Neither Bucky or Wanda deserved to be locked up," Steve argued. "The Accords were making Tony lock up innocent people. I couldn't agree to that, that's why I couldn't sign them."
"If you hadn't gone after Barnes in Bucharest not signing would have been an option," Foggy said. "You wouldn't have been able to act as an Avenger until the situation was resolved but you could have refused to sign and used the world's need for the Avengers as leverage to get changes made."
Steve looked disgusted, "You think I should have blackmailed the world? 'Get rid of the Accords or I'll just stand here and watch while people die,' that's what you think I should have said."
"Instead of showing with your actions that you'd do whatever you damn well pleased? The world's opinion be damned. Yeah, that's what I think," Foggy replied. "You really weren't kidding about being stubborn were you? Okay, I get why you had to go to Bucharest: You didn't know that Stark was working within the Accords to bring him in safely. All you knew was that people were going after your best friend with the intent to kill. You didn't think about the fact that Sgt. Barnes had been a fugitive for years and there was evidence placing him in Vienna. You didn't think about the people hurt or killed in the bombing or about how dangerous the Winter Soldier is to any normal person. When it's your best friend's life on the line you just act, thinking about all the implications comes later, at best. I get that. But you broke a shit-load of laws in Bucharest and you hurt people. You can't ignore that, Steve. It wasn't even a Lagos where you can argue you were doing it for the greater good, you did it for your friend, a wanted man." Foggy held up a hand before Steve could protest, "Even if he isn't responsible for his actions while under HYDRA's control he became a fugitive rather than trying to prove his innocence."
"After Bucharest, Dr. Stark gave you a way out but to take it you had to trust him. That deal he arranged for you? I'm basing most of your case on that deal and I have no idea how he managed it, but sweeping all that under the rug? It must have cost him a lot of political capital. In return, you had to put Sgt. Barnes and the Avenger's well-being in his hands because your personal interest had compromised you. Man! The UN was ready to forgive you for spitting on something one-hundred and seventeen countries had deemed was necessary!"
"That bad?" Steve asked.
Foggy looked up helplessly. "I've spent weeks coaching you in how to disagree constructively. I can say with authority that you suck at political and legal maneuvering. Tony Stark's been doing it his whole life. You told him that you didn't trust him to watch your back in an arena where he's the expert and you're a rank novice. I let a friend of mine convince me to give up a cushy job in corporate law, because we- I didn't want to be the guy facilitating a big corporations using their resources to bully people under the auspices of the law. But Tony Stark, for all his influence and money was still just one guy and he got the the UN, the better part of the world, to give, just to accommodate your need to personally protect your friend."
Steve' breath caught, "Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, 'No, you move'."
"Was that what you thought you were doing?" Foggy asked.
"You make it sound like that's what Tony was doing," Steve replied.
Foggy leaned back against the wall and sighed. "You forgot the first part: 'Compromise where you can.' We've been through the Accords pretty thoroughly and I'd estimate that at least seventy percent of them you'd have no problem agreeing to but you took a hard line and rejected the Accords in their entirety. That was…" Foggy shook his head, "A hundred and seventeen nations said they wanted those Accords, rejecting them completely? You were telling all those countries that you weren't even listening to their concerns. Listening is not the same as caving in. If you're going to disagree with the whole world, you sure as hell better make damn sure that the world knows you very seriously considered their side of the issue before you took a stance.
"Zemo forced your hand when he framed Sgt. Barnes for the bombing. He created a time pressure that pushed you to act in a way that cost you your chance to tell the UN your problems with the Accords yourself. Without Zemo's involvement you could have gone over the remaining thirty percent of the Accords that you don't agree with and you could have decided what parts you could compromise on and what parts you couldn't. Then you could have gotten up and told them: 'Seventy percent of the Accord I have no reservations about signing. But here are the changes I need before I can agree to the whole thing.' And then you could have given some ground on the points you'd already decided you could compromise on in exchange for them letting you hold fast to the points you couldn't compromise."
"You make it sound easy," Steve sighed.
"Only because I argue for a living," Foggy said lightly. "Don't let me fool you, it might have taken months even years before everything was ironed out to all parties' satisfaction.
"But after Bucharest that wasn't possible anymore. That deal, if I had to guess? Most likely Tony Stark made you something he wouldn't compromise on, 'cause they didn't give it to him on grounds of legal superiority. Odds are, he made you getting a second chance to agree to the Accords with no consequences the price for his continued support. Sure it probably helped that no one would have wanted to charge the new King of Wakanda with breaking the law his father had championed, I mean that's just awkward on an unprecedented scale, but there had to be something more to get you and your Falcon friend thrown in. Because of Bucharest, best case scenario, you'd have had to let Tony Stark be the one conveying your concerns about the Accords to the UN."
"I thought we agreed from the summary Tony gave us that he and I saw different problems with the Accords?" Steve pointed out. "How could I turn it all over to him when we didn't agree about what the problems were?"
"Trust," Foggy said quietly. "Trust that he'd listen to you even if he didn't agree with you. Trust that he wouldn't abuse being put in a position of power over you."
Carol was peering down into the cockpit of the alien ship at the dying blue-skinned pilot and the world exploded. She was laying in a hospital bed listening to doctors whisper about how she shouldn't have survived. She was staring into a mirror, into the reflection of her own eyes, and seeing the alien staring back at her.
Over her shoulder Carol saw a blue hand reaching for her, ready to snatch away another piece of her humanity and she spun around, teeth bared, ready to fight for it.
Dupont sat up and shook his head, trying to clear away the confusion. "Knew throwing us together like a stew was a fool's plan. No espirit de corps, no wonder we turned on each other at the first challenge," he muttered to himself. "I knew they'd turn on me, they looked at me like I was some sort of mercenary scum from the moment I walked in the door."
Cautiously he glanced through the open door and saw Captain Danvers flip the big Russian over her shoulder and through a wall like it was nothing. "I won't let you take it from me!" she screamed. The Russian climbed back to his feet, brushing off the powdered remains of the clay bricks pulverized by his fall. "You Westerners, you destroyed my country," he accused.
Dupont carefully backed away from the door, 'Couple of crazy monsters is what they are.' He found a rear door and left that way. Once he'd put some distance between himself and the battling supers he noticed the on-going gunfire. He climbed up on the roof of one of the few buildings that looked like it could take his weight to get an overview of the situation. Dupont snorted, "Looks like some of the locals crashed the party… Hmm, more than one flavor of local. They're going to make this party their own, I'll wager." He looked disgusted, "What's more I'm guessing someone'll try to peg this shit-show on yours truly. Well I'm not hanging around for that that."
He jumped back down and started walking. On his way out of town he picked over the corpses he came across, supplementing his own gear with several knives and pistols, an assault rifle and all the ammo he could carry.
Rhodes levered himself out of his wheelchair then fell backwards onto the couch in the suit the three Avengers had been set up in with a dramatic groan.
"Shall I assume we still lack permission to apprehend Ms. Maximoff?" Vision asked.
Rhodes braced himself on one elbow and turned to look at Vision in surprise, in the past Wanda had been the one person the android did not address formally. 'Guess being put through a half dozen floors cools the romance,' he thought but decided against mentioning it aloud. "I thought about telling the president that I'm scheduled to testify against Rogers in fourteen hours and if he's going to keep on wasting my time trying to manipulate me into taking out his political rivals… Well we can always come back when Maximoff is trespassing in a more reasonable government's property."
"Except for Ross," Hope interjected.
"Except for Ross," Rhodes grimaced. "With this stunt it shouldn't be too much longer before Pepper arranges for charges to be brought against him. Ross has a lot of people owing him favors, enough to bury his role in Harlem's destruction. He must have been something once to have that many people willing to cover for him. I just wonder when he lost his mind, you'd think it was Bruce's transformation that changed him but the stuff Pym's dug up points to his obsessiveness starting with the Super Soldier Serum not the Hulk."
Suddenly the door burst open. "President al-Bashir will see you immediately," the soldier announced.
"I just came from talking to him," Rhodes replied. "His terms weren't anything I was interested in."
Hope and Vision glanced at each other then moved to flank Rhodes. Vision helped him back into his chair. /FRIDAY is Warmachine prepared?/ Vision silently signaled the other AI. /This does not look good./
"The witch is starting a war in Bor," the soldier announced. "The President wants her dealt with immediately."
The discussion with Sudan's president and the flight to the south Sudan city took a combined twenty minutes. Warmachine, Wasp and Vision stepped out of the quinjet into the ruins of the city. Bodies lay rotting in the streets, the piles of rubble outnumbered the standing buildings and the sporadic sound of gunfire filled the air. "What happened here?" Wasp breathed.
"Wanda," Vision replied sadly. "Traces of her power are everywhere."
"It's the same thing she did to the Avenger, to the Hulk," FRIDAY piped up using the speaker in Rhodes' suit. "Put their fears in charge then turned them all lose on one another."
Wasp shrunk down and took to the air to scout.
"Some of the uniforms are local to the region," Rhodes noted as he began searching for survivors. He sighed, "Don't know if they were influenced by Maximoff or just decided this was a good excuse to resume hostilities."
"Got a pair of enhanced in combat with each other," Wasp said over their comms. "I'm thinking the guy's abilities are on par with Captain America. The girl's a flier and stronger yet but she's unfocused, going after shadows as much as her opponent."
The comms crackled as a new voice joined in. "So, you think you guys can set aside your power trip long enough for a round of cognitive recalibration or do Falcon and I need to do all the work?" Hawkeye asked.
Rhodes felt his jaw dropping at the sheer gall of the man. "Power trip? I don't remember us telling a hundred and seventeen nations to go screw themselves," he said. "But we can discuss it after we've stopped the shooting. Vision, take the flier. Wasp, your sting should take down the super soldier if you can target the base of the skull. Hawkeye, Falcon, I won't try to arrest you two while in the middle of a hot war zone. If you're here to help, take down anyone wearing a UN patch and stash them under the Quinjet. Don't engage the local forces, at best you might convince them to ban together against us before they go back to killing each other. FRIDAY, you got the processing power to help me with War Machine and use the portable armor for guard duty?"
"I'm a multitasking genius," FRIDAY declared cheerfully as she started unfolding the suitcase Ironman armor. "I can do all that and still have brains left over to come up with insults for the bird-brain fugitives… Not that they make it hard."
"FRI, priorities," Rhodes reprimanded. "We'll discuss them once we've done what we can to clean up Maximoff's damage."
"This is on Ross sending goons after her," Hawkeye protested.
"My mistake, we'll work on assigning blame afterwards," Rhodes replied. "Now get to work or get out of the way."
Wasp, slightly smaller than her namesake, hovered near the big man who was ranting in Russia as he threw chunks of masonry at the blonde woman. "Vision, coordinate with me. They've been at this awhile. I'm betting the first one down ends up a smear on the other's fist if we don't."
"Agreed," Vision said altering his coloring to near-transparency as he rose in the air behind the flier.
"On three," Wasp replied.
They held position when the flier dove at the man. He dodged and slammed her into the ground creating an impact crater a meter deep. The woman torn herself out of the ground with an enraged shout and managed to grab the man's ankle. She squeezed, pulverizing bone.
"Now! Now!" Wasp shouted. Vision landed behind the woman and struck her in the back of the head with a double-handed blow while Wasp discharged her stingers into the man's cerebellum. As the pair of super-humans collapsed Wasp landed and grew to her normal size with a sigh of relief.
Vision handed her a pair of reinforced handcuffs. "In case they wake up less than fully recalibrated," he said as he bent to secure the woman.
Hawkeye fired a series of explosive arrows into the ground near a group of UN combatants, scattering them like bowling pins. "Watch what you're doing!" Rhodes barked. "You can break a neck as easily as knocking them out like that!"
"What crawled up your butt and died?" Hawkeye demanded.
"Okay, this isn't going to work," Rhodes declared. "Falcon, Hawkeye stand down. Take off or whatever but I can't have you here. Unlike you we have rules we have to follow. We can't just blow off the families of the people we kill."
"Fuck you."
"Clint!" Sam snapped. "Okay Rhodes, you're calling the shots. We can live with that until the shooting's stopped."
Rhodes sighed, "You two, get anyone who's unconscious bound and gathered by the jet. Collect up the dead as well, their countries will want to know who killed them… Assuming they aren't satisfied with blaming Maximoff for this whole debacle. Send FRIDAY out to help me."
Sam and Clint did as they were told. Sam started ferrying the unconscious back to the plane by air while Clint tied them up for him. With a grimace Clint slung the last one over his shoulder and made his own run. When he saw the Iron Man armor guarding the jet his breath caught, something like hope lit up his face for a moment, "So the rumors of your death-" he began acerbically
The armor stared down at him expressionlessly, "You were not misled," FRIDAY said opening the faceplate briefly to show that the armor was empty. "Take over guard duty, Falcon and I can more efficiently collect people."
"Uh," Clint said with a shudder, "How can you-"
"Work with something that looks like the ghost of my best friend?" Rhodes growled. "I don't have the resources to waste anything. FRIDAY can pilot the suit and cover for my lack of legs at the same time, how could I not take her up on it? Tony didn't authorize her to use the suit's weapons but-"
"Well I guess he learned something from Ultron," Clint said.
"You're lucky I'm too busy to deck you," Rhodes said darkly. "Tony's been making AI's since his was seventeen years old, but you all think it's just coincidence that he makes Kubrick's HAL instead of Asimov's R. Daneel right after your witch decides to screw with his brain?"
"Wanda just looked at Stark's mind," Clint protested.
"She's a fucking liar," Rhodes spat. "She got in his head in Sokovia and the first thing he does when he gets back is make Ultron. DUM-E, U, JARVIS, Butterfingers, FRIDAY, others you've never even been introduced to… And then Ultron. As an engineer, when something suddenly starts behaving differently I'm trained to look at what changed, and from where I'm sitting Wanda Maximoff is the uncontrolled variable in the process."
"I hate to break this up but, I've got some of the UN team who've picked sides with the local forces and are fighting with them," Wasp reported.
"Which side?" FRIDAY asked.
"Both," Hope replied.
"Colonel Rhodes," Vision asked. "Are we truly going to let these people kill each other?"
"And this is exactly why we didn't want to sign the Accords," Sam said. "You're letting politics get in the way of saving lives."
"I'm trying not to get us embroiled in a someone else's war!" Rhodes snapped.
"It's possible that they're all under the Witch's spell," Hope said. "Plausible at least."
"Okay, okay," Rhodes said. He took several deep breaths then "Fliers, snatch and grab. Get the UN team out of the fight first. Then we get everyone else. Try to weaken the both sides equally. We'll knock everyone out, dump them on opposite ends of the town and hope they're more interested in licking their wounds than in picking up where they left off when they wake up."
Notes: Many thanks to Parsnip for persuading me to use Foggy instead of Matt for Steve's lawyer. He's so much better for the role. Foggy can empathize with Steve regarding Bucky and having a friend who puts you in the place of ignoring the law for their sake. But he can also empathize with Tony regarding Steve and having a friend who keeps a secret so pivotal from you that you have to question if they were ever your friend in the first place.
Anyway, if it's not apparent from this chapter, I've finished watching the first season of "Daredevil". Foggy's thoughts about Steve running to the rescue are strongly influenced by his actions in "Nelson vs Murdock".